Title: Remember the Time
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Tenth Doctor/Jack Harkness
Fandom: Doctor Who/Torchwood
Rating: PG-13
Table: 100moods
Prompt: 68, Nostalgic
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 last time I came to this planet, things were so different," the Doctor sighed as he looked around him at the streets of London. "I don't even know why I was here. I kept telling myself that I wasn't going to see you, but it seems that fate had different plans."

Jack nodded, glancing over at the Time Lord as they walked along. "You might not have consciously wanted to see me, but I think your hearts told a different story," he said, keeping his words soft. "I'm glad they did. If they hadn't, I'd have gone looking for you."

"How long would it have taken you to do that?" the Doctor asked, his tone casual, as though he didn't really care what the answer would be. But Jack could sense the tension in his lover's thin frame; the Doctor cared much more than he was letting on.

"I was ready to do it when I saw you again," Jack admitted with a sigh. "It might have been stupid -- and I kept telling myself it was, that you'd never take me back after the way I walked away from you -- but I was ready to throw everything away on the chance that you still cared."

"And I was ready to leave Earth without seeing you again because I was afraid you didn't -- even though I wanted to go to you more than I can put into words," the Time Lord said softly, looking over at his lover. "We've both been stubborn and silly."

Jack smiled, agreeing with him. He reached out for the Doctor's hand, twining their fingers together as they walked along the concrete pavement, glancing into the windows of shops now and then. Yes, they'd been silly, he thought to himself. But that was in the past now.

As his eyes took in the area around them, Jack realized that they were close to the entrace of a park he'd always liked, a place that he'd gone whenever he was in London to let himself relax. He'd always felt calm there, his sense of equilibrium within the universe restored.

The last time he'd been in the park with the Doctor was .... how long ago? Months? Years? For him, it had been longer than he wanted to remember, but then, he tried to ignore the passage of time. It had no real meaning for him any more.

The Doctor didn't see time in exactly the same way he did, but he could understand why time passed so differently for Jack than for the rest of the human race. And maybe he would remember the last time that the two of them had been in this park.

A smile crossed Jack's features, tugging at the corners of his lips and threatening to become a laugh. He could certainly remember what they'd done the last time they were here. Making love in a gazebo, with the Doctor protesting the entire time that they might be seen.

In spite of his protests, he'd let Jack make love to him willingly enough, and the immortal thought that it had been a very satisfactory way to spend their afternoon. He'd felt energized when they'd left the place, and since then, it had always held good memories.

Well .... those memories had been bittersweet for him, he reminded himself as his eyes swept over the verdant green that almost seemed to beckon him into the park, urging him to relive the memories of the last time he'd been here with the man he loved.

"Do you remember the last time we were here?" he asked the Doctor, turning to the other man to find that the Time Lord was staring into the park. The other man looked lost in his own memories, and Jack couldn't help wondering if his lover's thoughts were following the same path as his own.

"Yes, I do," the Doctor murmured, a pink blush creeping into his cheeks. "I remember that I thought we would get caught at any moment -- and maybe that's what made it so exciting. But we didn't, though I think my hearts were on the verge of stopping for fear that we might."

"What would you have done if we had gotten caught?" Jack teased, taking the Doctor's arm and moving towards the entrance to the park. "Batted those sexy long eyelashes and promised never to be bad in public again?"

"Of course not!" The Doctor mock-pouted as he glanced over at Jack. "I would have pointed at you, told them that it was all your fault, and that you talked me into it. Which would have been the truth." Batting his lashes at Jack, he added, "Then I would have promised not to be bad publicly."

Jack couldn't help letting out a shout of laughter at the Doctor's words, sliding an arm around the Time Lord's waist and pulling the other man against him. "Do you remember the time before that when we were here?" he asked, his voice going husky as he spoke.

After a few moments, the Doctor nodded, looking over at Jack and speaking in an equally husky voice. "Yes, I do. This is where --" he stopped abruptly, swallowing hard, as though he was suddenly too choked to speak. "This is where you first told me that you loved me."

Jack stopped in his tracks, turning to the Doctor and taking both of the Time Lord's hands in his own. He was oblivious to the people near them, not caring if they heard what he said or not. He was fully focused on the Doctor, as though the two of them were standing there alone.

"I mean it just as much now as I did then," he whispered, his words meant for the Doctor alone. "I love you, Doctor. I know I haven't always shown it, but I always have. I loved you when I was with you before, and I love you more now that I have a second chance with you."

The Doctor's dark eyes widened; he swallowed audibly, that intense gaze never leaving Jack's face. He obviously hadn't expected to hear something like this from his erstwhile lover, any more than Jack had expected himself to say it.

What had driven him to say those words? he asked himself, his gaze fixed on the Doctor's face. Was it some kind of inner guilt that drove him, making him feel that he had to say those words as often as he could to make up for all the times in the past that he hadn't done so?

No, it wasn't guilt, Jack realized, a small smile forming on his lips. Those words were simply the truth, a truth that wanted to make itself known. He couldn't have kept the words back even if he'd wanted to -- and he didn't want to. He wanted to shout them from the rooftops.

"I don't know what to say," the Doctor murmured, his voice soft and choken with emotion. "It's not like you to say those words out loud, Jack. I never expected to hear them outside of our bedroom. But I'm glad you feel that you can say them."

He swallowed again before continuing, his eyes still riveted on Jack's face. "I love you too, Jack. I've loved you from the first, even though I was always wary of saying it. But I'm saying it now -- and I hope this makes up for all the times that I didn't."

"We'll remember the time we were here when we both said those words, won't we?" Jack asked, his breath catching in his throat. He wasn't going to cry, he told himself. He wasn't going to let three little words make him break down.

"I know I will. I hope you will, too," the Doctor whispered, his voice barely audible as he reached out to run gentle fingertips down Jack's cheek. "I'll keep saying those words, you know. I'll say them so much you get tired of hearing them."

"Those are words I'll never get tired of hearing. Or saying," Jack told the Time Lord, smiling as he took the Time Lord's hand and led him down the pathway that he knew led to that gazebo. If it was still there, he intended to bring the past back to life in a very personal way.

***