Title: Under Fire
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Tenth Doctor/Jack Harkness
Fandom: Doctor Who/Torchwood
Rating: PG-13
Table: The Romance of Tropes Challenge, tv_universe
Prompt: Flirting Under Fire
Disclaimer: This is entirely a product of my own imagination, and I make no profit from it. I do not own the lovely Tenth Doctor or Jack Harkness, unfortunately, just borrowing them for a while. Please do not sue.

***

"This isn't good," the Doctor panted, cautiously starting to move towards the corner of the hallway he and Jack were pinned down in. Jack quickly pulled him back, one arm around the slender man's waist, refusing to let him move forward.

"Are you crazy?" he hissed, shaking his head. "You're going to get yourself killed. "Stay back from that corner, and don't let them see you."

"Jack, we have to do something," the Doctor told him, his voice rising, seemingly in panic. "If we don't, then they'll be able to pick us off with no problem. I don't fancy dying trapped in a hallway of an abandoned building on a world that is, for all intents and purposes, dead."

Jack nodded, his face grim.

"Neither do I," he answered, shaking his head. "And we're not going to die here, Doctor. You can bet on that." He looked at the other man, his gaze softening. "I promised to protect you. That's what a companion is supposed to do, isn't it? And a lover."

"Yes," the Doctor replied, his voice equally soft. "But there comes a time when you might be able to protect me, Jack. And I understand that. I always have. I just hope this isn't that time. Because there's still far too much that I want to experience with you."

"Don't worry, Doc," Jack said with his usual insouciant grin. "I'm not going to let it be that time. I'm not ready to go just yet."

"That's good to hear," the Doctor told him, glancing towards the corner again. "But tell me something, Jack. Just how do you plan to get us out of this? It doesn't seem as though we have much of a chance of making it out of this situation intact."

The Time Lord winced as another bullet flew by; that one had come horribly close to him. He would, of course, regenerate if he happened to die here; that was a given. But he didn't want to regenerate. He wanted to keep this body. He'd grown fond of it.

He didn't want to die. Not here.

Apparently, neither did Jack, though he would come back to life. Neither of them should be fated to die like this, in this place, trapped by Daleks. This wasn't the way that either of them should have to think about ending this chapter of their lives.

There was still too much that he wanted to do with Jack, too much that he wanted to see and explore. There was still too much life in both fo them, too much of a sense of adventure. There was still too much to do, too much to experience, too much to be.

And he still had too much that he wanted to live through with Jack. Too much love in his heart for this man to have it all end here and now. There was too much that the two of them hadn't done together yet, too many ways that they hadn't savored each other.

He wasn't going to let those experiences slip away from him. He wasn't going to succumb to the Daleks, wasn't going to die here in some unknown place. And he wasn't going to put Jack through the pain of his regeneration. Not here, not now.

Jack seemed to be thinking along those very same lines.

It shouldn't have surprised the Doctor when his lover bent towards him and pressed their lips together, but it did. He hadn't expected that kiss, not with bullets flying by from the humans who were with the Daleks, not with danger all around them.

Within another moment, he was in Jack's arms, and the two of them were oblivious to the danger that was pressing in closer to them. All they were aware of was each other, the passionate kiss that they shared, being in each other's arms.

It didn't matter that they were under fire. The entire world fell away, to be replaced by a world where only the two of them and their passion for each other existed.

If they were going to die here, then they were going to die together, locked in an embrace. The Doctor didn't want Jack to let him go; if he had to feel the pain of death, then he would feel that pain in his lover's arms, and hopefully it would be lessened.

Their kiss grew more heated, more passionate; the Doctor almost wanted Jack to lay him down right there, on the cold concrete of the floor, and take him as he'd never been taken before. It would be one hell of a way to go, he told himself wryly. At least he would die happy.

As suddenly as the kiss had begun, it ended.

Jack raised his head, his grip on the Doctor loosening. "Doctor, look!" Both men blinked, turning their heads towards the end of the corridor they were in, a corridor that had been dark and forbidding before, but had now, somehow, changed.

A light. There was now a light at the end of the corridor; the door they had tried earlier, the door that had refused to budge, was now wide open.

The two men looked at each other, wondering what was happening. Both of them realized that it could be a trap, as well as being a way out. Were they willing to take the chance that it was the latter? If they didn't then they faced certain death here.

Without a word, the two of them ran for the light.

They burst through the door to the other side, both of them stopping in confusion. Instead of the street they had expected to encounter, they were in a field full of flowers, the sun shining cheerfully down on them. Somehow, they were in a completely different place from the one they'd just left.

***