Title: Side By Side
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Tenth Doctor/Jack Harkness
Fandom: Doctor Who/Torchwood
Rating: PG-13
Table: Love Your Fandom, in 5_prompts
Prompt: 5, "We sat side by side in the morning light and looked out at the future together." - Brian Andres.
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.

***

Jack entered the control room, yawning and rubbing a hand across his face. Usually, he would have taken a shower first thing in the morning, but he'd wanted to find the Doctor when he'd realized that the Time Lord wasn't in bed beside him.

He'd had the feeling that his lover would be here; the Doctor often felt restless early in the morning, all of his pent-up energy coming to the fore. It was something Jack was used to, but usually, the Time Lord stayed in their bed until he was awake.

He must be feeling particularly edgy this morning to have gotten up without waking his partner, Jack told himself, a slight frown on his face. If something had upset the Doctor, he wanted to know what it was, and try to protect the Time Lord from it.

The frown turned to a wry smile at that thought. Since when had he been the one to have such protective feelings? The Doctor was built more along those lines than he was -- or at least, he'd thought so until his involvement with the Gallifreyan became serious.

Jack's gaze moved around the control room, lighting on the slender figure standing in the doorway of the Tardis, outlined by the pale glow of the dawn. Why was the Doctor here, rather than being curled up beside him in their warm bed?

Well, he might not know at the moment, but he would find out. Moving across the control room, he descended the three short steps to the doorway, going to stand behind the Time Lord and slipping his arms around that slender waist.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, nuzzling the Doctor's cheek with his own. "I woke up and was wondering where you ran off to." His voice held a slightly reproachful tone, making the Doctor look around at him with a raised eyebrow.

"I was a bit restless, so I thought I'd come out here and look at the sunrise," he said, his tone a little defensive. "You may have come back to me, Jack, but that doesn't mean you can dictate where I have to be every second. You're taking too many liberties."

"I didn't mean it that way," Jack protested, tightening his arms around the Doctor's waist. "I'm sorry. Really, I am." He hoped that his voice would convey the sincerity he felt; he hadn't meant to imply that he wanted to keep tabs on his lover.

The Doctor sighed, leaning back into Jack's arms. "No, I'm sorry," he murmured, his gaze fixed on the rising sun. "I'm too used to being alone, Jack. I still haven't quite been able to wrap my mind around the fact that you're here with me again, and that you won't leave me this time."

"That's something you don't ever have to worry about again," Jack assured him, one hand moving to rest on the Time Lord's hip. "I'm not going to leave again. It took me a while to figure out that I'm not happy unless I'm with you."

"What do you think our future will be like, Jack?" the Doctor asked, his gaze still focused on the horizon, glowing softly with the coming of dawn. "You're an immortal, I'm a Time Lord. We can give each other forever .... well, in a way."

Jack began to smile as he opened his mouth to answer his lover -- then closed it as a thought occurred to him. The Doctor wasn't immortal. He could die; he wasn't going to miraculously come back to life in the way that Jack himself did.

Yes, he could regenerate -- but he would come back in a different body, perhaps one that Jack wasn't attracted to. And he could have a completely different personality. He might not even have such strong feelings for Jack when he was in another body.

"I don't know," he answered, wanting to be as truthful as possible. "Anything could happen. But I can guarantee you that whatever the future is like -- I'll be with you. I've belonged with you since I first saw you. I was just too stubborn to admit it for a long time."

"And I was too proud to ask you to stay," the Doctor whispered, moving one hand to place it over Jack's where it rested on his hip. "I shouldn't have let you go, Jack. I knew in my hearts that you would stay if I asked -- but there was always that little bit of doubt that you wouldn't."

"I would have," Jack said softly, closing his eyes as he pressed his lips against the Doctor's hair. "I'd have struggled with myself about it -- but I would have stayed. I left you because I needed time to figure out who I'd become. But I didn't bargain on one thing."

"And what was that?" the Doctor inquired, his eyes still fixed on the horizon. The sun was starting to come up now, bright rays of sun illuminating the space in front of them. Birds were beginning to sing, the wind blowing through the tall grass. The world was coming to life.

"That I needed to be with you to find out just who I am and what my place in the world is," Jack told him, sighing as he spoke. "I thought I could find that out by myself. It didn't register with me that you're part of who I am. The best part."

"We've been apart for two long," the Doctor murmured, a sigh on his own lips. "The past is over and done with, Jack. We have our future to look forward to now." His long fingers closed around Jack's, squeezing the immortal's hand gently.

"We'll have a great future together," Jack said, squinting as the rising sun's rays became brighter. "Now that we've both figured out that we need each other, we're not going to let what we have go again. We know our future lies with us being together."

"I don't want to know what the future holds," the Doctor told him, shaking his head. "It's malleable, you know. One small act can change the future forever, some of the time. And then there are other things that are set in stone, that you can't change no matter how much you might want to."

The future is whatever we make of it," Jack said, raising one hand to run his fingers through the Time Lord's hair, reveling at the feel of it against his skin. How long had it been since he'd felt that soft silken texture? Too long. Far too long.

"There are so many different futures," the Doctor whispered, his fingers tightening on Jack's. "So many that I don't want to know about. I don't want to know when our song is going to end. I don't want to be tempted to see if I can change it."

"Neither of us is going to try to change the future," Jack whispered into his ear, moving both arms around the Doctor's waist again and hugging the slender man to him. "We're going to face it side by side, walking into it together. Whatever it might bring us."

The Doctor nodded, another soft sigh leaving his lips as he closed his eyes and leaned back against his lover. Jack could feel the tension slowly seeping out of the Time Lord's body, as though his touch was somehow calming some restlessness inside the other man.

They were standing by each other's sides, looking out at the bright sunlight and contemplating their future. And there was nowhere else that Jack Harkness wanted to be, no other person of anyone he'd ever known that he wanted to be with.

As long as he was by this man's side, he could be happy for the rest of his life, Jack told himself, pressing his lips to the Doctor's hair and closing his eyes. No matter what the future held, he was goingto reach out and grab it with both hands -- and hold on to it as tightly as he could.

***