Title: Where the Hearts Are
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Tenth Doctor/Jack Harkness
Fandom: Torchwood/Doctor Who
Rating: PG-13
Table: 12
Prompt: 36, Nomad
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.

***

"This is something you're more or less used to, isn't it?" Jack asked the Doctor, as they stood at the door of the Tardis surveying the terrain around them. "You're used to ending up in places you've never been, that you don't know anything about."

The Doctor shrugged, glancing at Jack before looking back at the forest the Tardis had materialized in, a slight frown furrowing his brow. "More or less. There can be times when I can land in places that I definitely don't expect. You should know that."

Jack laughed, looking at the Doctor rather than at their surroundings. "I do, but I never quite got used to it in the time I was traveling with you. It always felt like something new, every place we went, everything we did. I guess I didn't do it long enough."

The Doctor looked surprised at Jack's words, turning to his lover with a questioning expression on his face. "How can you say that? You were a Time Agent for quite a while, Jack. I should think you'd have been jaded long before this."

Now it was Jack's turn to shrug; it was something he sometimes wondered about, too. Why wasn't he more jaded about going to new planets, seeing other times? He'd already lived through more time than any one man could ask for, and there was no end in sight.

"I guess I'm more jaded about life on Earth at this point. Maybe that's because I've spent so much more time there than I should have," he said, his eyes meeting the Doctor's.

The Doctor looked away, his eyes moving to the floor as though he couldn't continue to meet Jack's gaze. After a few moments, he heaved a sigh, crossing his arms over his chest and looking back at the immortal, still frowning.

"You're never going to forgive me for that, are you?" he asked, his voice sounding a bit petulant. "I keep apologizing for that -- but I'm not going to do that for the rest of our time together, Jack. I've already done it too many times to count, and I'm getting tired of it."

Now it was Jack's turn to sigh; it was true that he still held a bit of resentment towards the Time Lord for leaving him behind when he had, though he'd said over and over that it was in the past and behind them. Maybe it wasn't. Maybe he still needed to confront his own feelings.

"I guess it's hard for me to forgive .... but I can, and I will," he said hastily as the Doctor's frown deepened. "Look, you know that was hard for me. I can't even begin to put into words what it was like -- but it wasn't all bad. I had some good and bad times. It was .... an experience."

"It wasn't something I'd planned on doing, Jack. Not as a conscious plan, at least." The Doctor sighed, going back into the Tardis and sitting down in his chair near the console. "I didn't know how to deal with what you'd become. It seemed .... wrong."

"If I'd been in your shoes, I might've felt the same way," Jack said, turning to look at the Doctor and leaning one shoulder against the door of the ship. "But we'll never know that, will we?"

The Doctor shook his head, leaning forward and clasping his hands, looking down at the floor. "No, I suppose we won't," he said quietly, heaving another sigh. "I'll say it again, Jack -- I'm sorry for that. If I could do it over again, it might well have turned out differently."

Jack closed the door of the ship, going to where the Doctor sat and kneeling in front of him. "Hey, I didn't mean to upset you. Yeah, I might still feel a little resentful about what happened -- but I'm way past blaming you for it. You did what you had to do at the time."

"I was a different person then, Jack," the Doctor told him, finally looking at the immortal again, his eyes suspiciously bright. "You know that. I didn't know you then the way I do now -- and if I'd known what you would mean to me in the future, I'd never have left you behind."

"And if you hadn't left me behind, maybe we wouldn't be the way we are now," Jack pointed out, determined not to let the Doctor sink into melancholy. "Maybe that was my chance to be a nomad, just like you. To find out something about what your life is like."

"I doubt that happened," the Doctor murmured, smiling in spite of himself. "After all, you were stuck on one planet, not traveling in space and time. But you did find out what it's like to live for a very long time -- and that it's not as pleasant as most people would like to believe it is."

"That's the truth," Jack said with feeling, repressing a shudder. But he wasn't going to blame the Doctor for those years. He should be grateful for them, really.

"That time taught me a lot about myself, who I am and who I want to be," Jack told the Time Lord, reaching out to cup the Doctor's chin with one hand. "I had a lot of time to think -- and to grow up, in some ways. I think I might have needed that."

"I thought about leaving you quite a lot after the fact," the Doctor said, taking a deep breath. "I've regretted it, Jack. But I can't say that it was entirely a bad thing -- after all, as you said, we might not have what we do now if I hadn't."

"I wouldn't give up what we have now for anything," Jack said softly, standing up and pulling the Time Lord to his feet. He wrapped his arms around the slender man's waist, pulling him close and brushing soft lips against his forehead. "This is worth anything I had to go through, and more."

"If I had to give you up, I'd ...." The Doctor's voice trailed off, and he shook his head. "I don't know what I'd do," he said softly, sighing and resting his forehead against Jack's shoulder. "But I know that a big part of me would be gone."

"The most important part of me would be gone if I lost you," Jack murmured, closing his eyes for a moment before twining the fingers of one hand through the Doctor's hair. "Anyway, we've gotten away from what I'd originally asked about."

"You mean about my being used to this?" The Doctor looked up, a thoughtful expression on his face. "I don't think I've ever really gotten used to being a nomad, honestly."

"Now that surprises me," Jack told him, quirking an eyebrow at the Time Lord. "You've been traveling around in the Tardis for so long that I'd have thought it was something you'd be more than a little jaded about by now."

That wasn't exactly true, he told himself the moment the words were out of his mouth. The Doctor had an irrepressible joie de vivre, an almost childlike joy in discovering new places. At least, this incarnation of him did. Jack coudn't imagine him being jaded about anything.

The Doctor shook his head, sounding a little resigned when he spoke again. "It's different now than it was before the Time Wars. Then, I had a home to go back to. Now .... I have nothing. Nothing but the Tardis -- though she's more than I probably deserve."

Jack didn't know whether to laugh or feel sad; the Tardis was wonderful, of course, but the Doctor deserved everythin that life could possibly give him, and more. If only there was some way he could make sure the Time Lord had that ....

But there wasn't. All he could give the Doctor was his heart -- which the other man already had. Maybe he'd even had it before they'd been parted, Jack thought to himself. There'd already been an attraction there, at least on his side of things.

And now .... now there was so much more than that. The Doctor had become the most important person in his universe -- and Jack was sure that he always would be.

"Well, one thing's for sure," Jack told him, trying to lighten the mood. "You'll always have a home with me, wherever I am. And for me, home is where you are. So .... I guess that means my home is just as much in the Tardis as yours is."

"Do you mean that?" The Doctor's voice was trembling a little, and Jack hugged the Time Lord close against him, hoping that the other man wouldn't lose control of his emotions. He knew it always embarrassed the Doctor to cry in front of him.

"You bet I do," Jack said, tilting the Doctor's face up to his own so that he could look into those amazing dark eyes again. "You've heard the expression 'home is where the heart is,' right? In your case -- my home is where your hearts -- and mine -- are. And my heart is with you."

"That makes the prospect of being a nomad sound a lot better," the Doctor murmured, smiling up at his lover. Jack pulled the Doctor closer against his body as their lips met, deciding that he felt more at home in the Tardis now than he'd ever thought he could.

***