Title: Reunion
By: slayersgrl
Pairing: Doctor/Jack
Rating: PG
Author's Notes: Response to the lj community tenxjack Prompt: #15. Are you satisfied?
Summary: Set Post-Doomsday. Jack is finally reunited with the Doctor.

***

Finally, after an eternity of waiting, they were standing face to face. Granted, one was a completely new face, but the same memories and emotions were still there. Only there was something missing, something important.

"Where's Rose?" Jack asked. Of all the possible questions he had imagined he'd ask, that was never one he had considered.

"Gone." That one word spoke volumes. The emotion behind it was still raw. So, it had happened recently.

And then the barely contained emotions surged forward: all his anger, frustration, and despair after being left behind with nothing but a hollow space station and tiny piles of dust. The rage boiled up from the depths of his soul until it manifested itself in one heartfelt swing.

The Time Lord didn't even try to defend himself. He just let the impact jar his head to the side and then calmly turned back to stare his attacker in the eyes. The gaze was as intense as any his previous incarnation had directed his way. "You satisfied?" those eyes seemed to ask.

Jack realized he had only unleashed a tiny portion of his pent up rage. "You selfish bastard! You lost her so you thought you'd swing by and pick up a replacement? Did you think I'd just forget the sight of the TARDIS disappearing right before my eyes? That I would ever forget the fact that the only two people I gave a damn about had deserted me?"

"I had no choice..."

"Don't you dare tell me that! You always have a choice. You do whatever you feel like whenever you please. Don't tell me about protecting timelines and preserving history. You have a time machine! You could have come back for me as soon as you left." He paused, carefully reading the Doctor's expression. "But you didn't. How long has it been? A week? A month? A year?" The silence was as clear of an answer as he was ever going to get. Not only had he been abandoned, but he had been discarded.

He felt disgusted that he had ever dreamed of this reunion. That he had let himself hope that he could one day return to that life. He had believed the TARDIS was his home, that he actually belonged there. That there were people who cared about him. Obviously he was wrong.

"I can't believe I ever wanted to see you again. How long before your luck runs out again? How long before I find another worthy cause to lay down my life for you? How long before you manipulate me to satisfy what you want?"

He waited for a response. Not that it would matter. There was nothing the Doctor could say that could possibly make things right.

"I'm sorry." Except maybe that. Not once had he heard an apology from him. And yet here he was muttering those two simple words with such emotion that Jack knew they were genuine. "I never meant for you to get hurt. It's just... things got complicated. And I'm sorry."

Those words again. They were slicing away at his resolve. He wanted to stay angry, to maintain the moral high ground. But other emotions were beginning to rise to the surface.

"Why are you here?" Jack asked the man standing before him. "What do you want?"

"I... I don't know." There was a pause as the Doctor considered his next words. "I guess I just don't want to be alone."

Jack understood that desire. He knew loneliness intimately. He had been fighting against its suffocating grip ever since he awoke on Satellite Five.

"What do you want Jack?"

What he really wanted was to relive those few months he spent aboard the TARDIS. Just him, the Doctor, and Rose. But life was cruel and once again Jack was handed the short stack.

Then he realized the one thing he had wanted for a long time was standing right in front of him. A second chance. The opportunity to start over. To erase the loneliness that had consumed him for so long. To give in to desire and take what he wanted.

Mistakes of the past were not worth relinquishing his future. His mind made up, he stepped forward, placed one hand gently on the Doctor's cheek, and kissed him. Deeply and passionately. "I want you. I've always wanted you." He took a deep breath before continuing, hoping his intent would be conveyed. "I don't want to be alone anymore. Or ever again."

And with that statement, the two men who existed outside of time came to a mutual agreement. When trying to fill the void left behind by the hands of fate, two was always better than one.

***