Title: Shooting From the Heart
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Tenth Doctor/Jack Harkness
Fandom: Doctor Who/Torchwood
Rating: PG-13
Table: 50ficlets
Prompt: 33, Heart
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.

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His hearts shouldn't be broken. He should have expected this, should have known that Jack was going to leave him eventually.

After all, hadn't the immortal always warned him that he wasn't the faithful type? That he got bored easily and that he never stayed with one lover for long? But he'd said in such a joking way that the Doctor had brushed it aside as something unimportant.

He should have paid more attention, the Doctor told himself, curling up under the blankets and resisting the urge to pull them up over his head and hide from the world. He should have realized that Jack was trying to tell him something.

But he hadn't. He'd only thought that it was one of Jack's never-ending jokes, that the other man had found what he was looking for and that he wouldn't leave.

The Time Lord almost snorted at that thought. The more fool he, to think that Jack Harkness could ever be capable of being faithful for more than a short time. He'd never been that way with anyone, not even people he claimed to love.

Of course, that brought up another question in his mind: Had Jack ever really loved him, or had those whispers in the heat of their most primal embraces been nothing but lies? Had the immortal only been using him to get what he wanted for a while?

He sighed and squeezed his eyes tightly shut, wanting to push the thought out of his mind but knowing that he wouldn't be able to. It would worry at him like a cat batting a mouse with its paw until he turned the idea over and over in his mind, examining it from all possible angles.

The idea of Jack loving anyone was pure insanity. Oh, he might love -- but he'd never be in love. The idea was foreign to him.

Jack thought of everything in physical terms. What satisfied him, what he wanted. And once he'd gotten what he wanted, he usually walked away. The people he'd been involved with were usually so grateful to have had a part of him that they waved him on his merry way.

But the Doctor hadn't done that. Oh no. He'd stood there stony-faced and dry-eyed as he'd watched the man he'd given his hearts to walk out of his life without a backward glance. He hadn't let Jack see what he was really feeling.

The other man had been shooting from the heart when he'd told the Doctor point-blank that he was leaving. Firing arrows that pierced the Time Lord where it hurt the most.

He hadn't shown how he'd taken those blows. When Jack had made the announcement that he was leaving, the Doctor had merely nodded and changed the subject, as though it didn't matter to him. As though he was just as uninvolved as Jack was.

He should have known that he was nothing more than a casual affair for the immortal. He'd warned himself when they'd first become physically involved that Jack wasn't to be trusted with his hearts, that this man thought nothing of other people's emotions.

He'd certainly thought nothing of his lover's feelings. He'd acted as though the Doctor would be glad to see him go, and as if he couldn't wait to go on to the next part of his life, cheerfully leaving the Doctor behind as if their life as a couple had never existed.

It shouldn't hurt so much. He shouldn't feel this emptiness, this tender area around his hearts that felt as though it was growing larger with each passing day.

How long had it been now? Weeks? Months? He wasn't really keeping track of time any more. It didn't seem to matter; there was no companion, and at the moment, he didn't want one. He didn't want to let himself care about another person.

He hadn't been back to Earth since Jack had left. He hadn't been able to bring himself to do so; he didn't want to seem as though he was coming back to beg Jack to resume their relationship, or worse, coming back looking for a casual fling.

No, definitely not. That was Jack's style, not his. He didn't want a lover who could so casually use him and throw him out when he was done. He wanted someone who would make a commitment to him, a man who cared about him with all their heart and soul.

That certainly wasn't possible with Jack. He had shot from the heart, shot right through his lover's hearts with all of the lies and the promises that he never intended to keep.

The best thing for him to do would be to forget Jack, to find another companion and leave the past behind him, where it belonged. He wasn't going to try to find a new lover, but he should at least look for someone to keep him company.

The Doctor's mouth twisted in a wry smile at the thought. It was just what Jack would expect him to do -- to find someone else to take his place, and to take that man as a lover as well. It was what Jack would do -- what he had meant to do all along.

He'd certainly succeeded in shooting from the heart. In fact, the Doctor thought bitterly, he couldn't have had a better aim if he was shooting to kill.

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