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A different path
by Lilithangel
He took their money and got as far away from Cardiff as he could. Jack was pretty sure no matter how long that strange little girl said he had to wait, he didn't want to wait as canon fodder for a pair of crazed lesbians and an organisation whose mandate was the Doctor's capture. They might have given him a good head start at finding the Doctor but at what cost?
He joined a travelling show as the man who couldn't die. Ironically it was all smoke and mirrors because nobody really wanted it to be real. Even the audience, paying to be amazed, wanted to find out the trick.
He left them at Paris and settled in to a period of history he knew he would enjoy. Paris had embraced the new century with enthusiasm. The Exposition, the Olympic Games. Paris was flooded with the wealthy and the creative, all looking for the different and the exotic, and there wasn't a lot more exotic than Jack.
There were plenty of Americans, so his accent didn't stand out even if he did. He made a respectable living escorting American and French matrons to events, managing to charm the husbands and fathers as easily as the women. He knew everyone, got into the best parties and never turned down an invitation to dance.
When war broke out he signed up and ended up fighting battles he had only read about in history books. Saving lives where he could and trying not to die where anyone might notice the unfortunate fact of it not sticking.
In the trenches, just like Paris, he took lovers briefly, seeking solace from the nightmare no one could have imagined when they joined so full of national pride.
One a young lover seemed to see more than most. Tom Latimer bore all the signs of an encounter with the Doctor and enough psychic ability for Jack to slam up all his shields. It didn't stop him seducing the young man and teasing the story out of him. Tom carried on and Jack continued to die until peace was declared.
He ended up in Rome for a while, keeping a low profile until memories of Jack Harkness faded. He knew where he was going to be in 1940 and slowly made his way back to Cardiff.
James Harper, volunteer, met Captain Jack Harkness in a pub one night. They exchanged the usual greetings of aliens in a strange land and James buys Jack a drink. The next night Jack buys James a drink and they reminisce about what they miss about home. James is making most of it up, he doesn't remember much about growing up anymore, but it's enough to make a connection.
James flirts with everyone and Jack watches with envy until James turns it on him.
They have three wonderful months and then James waves Jack off on the squad's last training mission. The kiss goodbye is deeper than normal and James packs him bags and leaves without looking back. Jack gave him a stronger sense of purpose than he'd had since being trapped on earth and he feels obligated to make something of the name.
He finds a dazed Algy sitting in the Officer's Mess, trying to make sense of what had happened during the night.
"Jerry's tricks old man," he said, pouring them both a scotch, "looks like they failed though."
"I thought you'd disappeared with that strange couple," Algy said, accepting the drink.
"With a war on?" Jack raised an eyebrow. "We're supposed to be shipping out soon, wouldn't miss it for the world."
Later on Algy commented that he was different somehow, more weary. Jack distracted him in the best way possible and Algy forgot his concerns. They parted without saying goodbye, a habit Jack was getting into especially during wartime.
James Harper returned to America after the battles were done, and joined other ex Aces in flying rodeos to entertain the post-war crowds who felt they'd missed something being so far away from the action.
He kept moving though, never staying long enough to make anyone suspicious about his luck or his never changing looks.
He always found company but it was lonely, and he found himself back in London in the nineties waiting for the second century to tick over and bring him back to the Doctor and Rose.
Flirting and favours got him access to UNIT and Torchwood, bringing him up to date on the Doctor's new appearance and impact on London. He thought about going back to Cardiff and waiting for the TARDIS to need refuelling again, but he couldn't guarantee when that would happen and Torchwood One had better toys anyway. He didn't really like the head of the place but she was key to his access.
Yvonne didn't tell her toy boy much about what she did, but Jack found out plenty while she was sated and sleeping including her access codes.
It was still pure chance that he turns up to take her out to lunch the day they capture Torchwood's greatest enemy and the ghost shift goes horribly wrong.
Jack does what he can to help people escape the clutches of the Cybermen and avoid that fate himself, having no wish to find out how much he could come back from.
He knows the Doctor and Rose are up there somewhere and he tries to get up to the areas Yvonne would never let him near, pretty certain that the hordes of Cybermen and Daleks crashing past him will lead him to the Doctor.
He is battered by their struggling bodies and is pretty sure he dies a couple of times in those chaotic minutes. Finally he tumbles into a large white room with a huge white void at one end that everything is falling into.
Holding onto a wall on one side is the Doctor and barely hanging onto a large lever on the other is Rose. With a determined push Jack manages to grab hold of something on the wall and reach out towards Rose.
The Doctor is yelling something and Rose is screaming but she reaches for his hand. Inch by agonising inch he stretches until his fingertips touch hers, the pull of the void so strong he can feel it through her fingers. He strains forward, feeling his shoulder nearly tear and they clasp hands. Bracing and ignoring the pain he pulls her towards him. She holds onto the lever and somehow between them they pull it closed.
The light and the terrible pull shrink to nothing and they fall to the ground.
"Rose!" the Doctor cried out and ran to her side. Panting, she let him lift her upright and hug her.
"Jack..." Rose pulls free of the Doctor and hugs him as he stands, "the Doctor said you were saving the world, I didn't realise you were planning on saving us."
"He did, did he?" Jack sinks into her embrace for a moment, amazed that he had remembered her scent after so very long.
"Jack," the Doctor says when the hug ends, "you're looking the same."
"Doctor," Jack says, "you're not. Different..." he considers the form he had looked at so many times in pictures, "not bad, shame about the ears though."
Rose's attention is drawn to the end of the room where the breach had been. "Doctor... Mum and the others?"
"The breach has been sealed," the Doctor said sadly, "you can't ever see them again. I'm so sorry."
"But they're safe, yeah?" Rose walked slowly towards the blank wall without waiting for the Doctor's answer, leaving Jack and the Doctor standing.
"You knew," Jack said softly, "that I was still alive on the Game Station, and you left me there."
"I was busy," the Doctor replied, looking at him sideways.
"Too busy to come back?" Jack knows he sounds needy but he's waited well over a hundred years for the answer. "You knew didn't you, all this time?"
"That you couldn't die? Yup." The Doctor popped the last word, "that's why I left you, you're wrong Jack, you're a fact in time and that's wrong."
"Why am I wrong?" he asked in despair, "what happened and can you fix me?"
"Rose happened," the Doctor admitted looking down the room to where she stood with one hand pressed against the wall, "she looked into the heart of the TARDIS. She saved the world and she saved you. Didn't want you dead so you weren't. It was too much for her though, it was killing her. So I took it back."
"And it killed you instead," Jack guessed.
Rose had turned from the wall and ran back to the Doctor who gathered her up in a hug.
"I'll never see them again," she sobbed, "but that's alright cause they've got each other and I've got you, and Jack's back too," she added reaching a hand out to Jack.
Jack took her hand and smiled, his eyes meeting the wary ones of the Doctor.
As they walked back to the TARDIS the scale of destruction in the tower became evident. The fully converted Cybermen had been sucked into the breach but there were partially converted bodies and humans slaughtered in the crossfire between Dalek and Cybermen. The few survivors were either wandering around in a daze of horror or screaming for help.
Jack recognised some of Yvonne's people and his heart ached for them. He also watched the way the Doctor and Rose were together and mourned for his own loss.
He dropped back when they reached the TARDIS, despite his urge to run inside and never leave. He had the answer he had been waiting for. He was an accident, he was wrong and he couldn't be changed. There was no place for him on the TARDIS.
"Jack," Rose said, looking behind her, "don't muck around."
He looked at the Doctor, but the Time Lord only regarded him impassively. "I'm staying," he said, "You two have a fantastic life." Rose looked at him in confusion and looked at the Doctor. "I've got a life here," he lied, "saving the world remember?"
The Doctor nodded but Jack couldn't decipher his expression and chose to see relief in those dark eyes.
Rose looked at the Doctor again and then back to Jack, "I thought..."
"You heard what he said Rose," the Doctor said. "Thanks for your help there Captain," he added, "don't know what I would have done if Rose had been pulled into the breach."
"Just doing my duty Doctor," Jack replied. Rose barrelled into him and hugged him hard.
"We'll come visit," she promised and Jack just smiled into her hair.
He watched the TARDIS disappear again with Rose and the Doctor. He could make a place for himself here if he tried hard enough, but he would never have a place between those two. He was wrong to the Doctor and Rose would never understand how much space there was in his heart, more than enough for two if they wanted him.
Two years later.
Jack sat back in his chair and groaned as ignored muscles protested the movement.
Ianto stepped through the door carrying a mug of coffee and Jack smiled. His PA always knew when he would need more caffeine and nobody at Torchwood One made coffee better.
"I love you," he said as he inhaled the aroma.
"You just love my coffee," Ianto said with a grin.
"And your suits," Jack added.
Ianto had been one of the few survivors of the battle that Jack had allowed to stay. He had found the young man trying to haul a half-converted girl out of the wreckage of a conversion unit. She had been screaming and he had been crying so hard he didn't even see Jack.
Jack had helped free Lisa and then held them both as she died. Ianto had wanted to save her, harvest a conversion unit to keep her alive until Jack had made him see sense. When she had finally found peace Ianto had lashed out at Jack for letting her die, but had still worked beside him to save whom they could and identify the rest for a proper burial.
When offered control of rebuilding Torchwood One Jack had accepted. He intended to stay long enough to set it on a new path and then found more and more to do.
"Doctor Harper rang," Ianto said, "it appears Ms Costello has shot herself. He's employed a young police officer in the interim, an Andy Davidson. He respectfully requests you call him as soon as you can."
Jack had to grin despite the news. He knew very well just how disrespectful Owen could be and Ianto always got very formal when his feathers were ruffled by the good doctor.
The Rift in Cardiff had played up and the small team down there had imploded with the pressure. Jack had recruited his own people to replace them and had been very hopeful that Suzie and the rest would be able to handle what the Rift threw at them.
Ianto handed him the already dialled phone.
"Harper," the doctor answered sharply.
"Owen," he said in reply, "talk to me."
"It was that bloody glove," Owen said, his voice tired, "Suzie got obsessed, turns out she was killing people to get test subjects. She killed a police woman and then killed herself. The fall out could have been a lot worse if Andy hadn't stepped in and helped. He was on the force with the girl and was there when it happened. Fuck it was a mess. We've sorted it but we need more help, Jack. Bugger if I'm going to lead this lot and keep up the autopsies and take care of the admin shit. We need help."
"I'll see what I can do," Jack said with a sigh, "I'm sorry for your loss," he added before hanging up.
Suzie had been his first recruit for Torchwood Three and she had seemed born to lead the team they built up together. She had always been fascinated by the technology that washed through the Rift, he had just not realised that the fascination had turned to obsession.
"Ianto, I need a list of anyone you think could handle Torchwood Three," he said as he hung up.
Ianto slipped a piece of paper in front of him, "already done, sir."
Jack snagged him before he could pull back, and kissed him soundly. "You are a godsend, Ianto Jones."
"Thank you sir, I do my best," Ianto replied, "I've listed them in order of ability and likelihood of being willing to live in Cardiff."
"How'd you like to do it?" Jack looked at Ianto speculatively.
Ianto looked at him in surprise. "I think I would shoot Owen in the first week," he replied carefully.
"Suzie punched him and locked him in a cell for the weekend," Jack replied. "You're ready to take a step up."
"I think my field experience is too limited for Cardiff," Ianto said honestly, "but thank you."
Jack would hate to lose Ianto but he wasn't lying, the young man was ready to step up to something more than just being his PA. In truth he was already grooming Ianto to take leadership of Torchwood before anyone noticed he wasn't aging. He was confident that between Ianto and the slowly strengthening Owen, Torchwood would be in good hands by the time he left. Owen had a charisma that Ianto didn't when he chose to use it, and Ianto had an ability to make people feel at home as well as his near perfect memory. Between them they would make a formidable team.
Jack was proud of what he had accomplished with Torchwood since watching the Doctor and Rose disappear again. The dangerous experiments had been stopped and the planet killing weaponry mothballed until humanity was ready for it. The extreme insular opinion of British might had gone and been replaced by a readiness for the future and a willingness to learn.
Occasionally he'd wondered how they were doing and any sightings were always sent directly to his desk. He'd hoped, just a little bit, that they would have popped in to see him, but he knew that the Doctor never went back. The older he got the more he understood. It was hard to watch people you cared about age and die.
He had gone to the funeral of the woman he'd nearly married after the Second World War. She had been killed by the faerie, getting between them and their chosen one. He had promised to be with her until the day they died and he had never gone back to see her, not even when he could have pretended to be his own son.
* * * * *
Jack didn't register the sound at first. When he did he didn't dare believe it until a familiar blue box appeared in his office.
He stood and nervously adjusted his suit jacket as the door opened.
The Doctor stepped out, blue suit, brown jacket and a smile. "Jack," he said cheerfully.
"Hello Doctor, good to see you," Jack said as the Doctor looked around curiously.
"Nice place you've got here," the Doctor continued, "I was expecting something darker for some reason, underground or something."
Jack looked around. It was a corner office with a nice big desk and a leather swivel chair. It had a slight Art Deco feel to it as Jack was still very fond of the period, and decorated with bits and pieces he had picked up through the decades.
"Where's Rose?" Jack asked curiously.
The Doctor blinked. "She's busy with wedding plans. Oh..." he fumbled in a pocket and pulled out an envelope. "Invitation to the wedding."
"Doctor, you sly old thing you." Jack was surprised by the news. He had seen how much they loved each other but it was hard to picture a domesticated Doctor.
"What? Oh no, not me... some guy Garry or Barry or is it Gerry? He's an architect from Chiswick, skydives on the weekends. We met him when his parachute got tangled with a Pterodactyl. Nice chap, he and Rose hit it off straight away," the Doctor babbled as Jack read the invitation.
"But I thought you and Rose?" Jack said to break the babble.
"Not like that," the Doctor said, and Jack could hear the sadness his babbling was trying to conceal. He went to his drinks cabinet and poured them both a large scotch.
"What happened?" he said, handing the Doctor a glass and perching on the edge of his desk.
"She wanted domestic," the Doctor said, taking a mouthful of scotch and grimacing, "house, garden, and children. I couldn't give her that. It's better this way."
"Did you even try?" Jack asked.
"I'm not human Jack, you all forget that. I won't grow old and die, I won't father a child, I don't settle down and I don't do domestic." The Doctor slammed down his glass and punctuated each ‘don't' with a pointed finger.
Jack stared at him, "The first bit sounds familiar," he couldn't resist the barb, "I'm sorry Doctor, it must have hurt to let her go." He finished, also unable to resist a hurting Time Lord.
The Doctor blinked and realised he was practically standing chest to chest with Jack.
"No, of course not," he said, stepping back, "I'm fine, I'm always fine. Anyway I thought I'd drop off the invitation and ask if you'd be my plus one. Unless of course you have a plus one of your own, silly of me to ask really. Not good at weddings, especially my own, but basically not good at them, never know what to say and always manage to upset the bride's mother. Mothers have always been a problem for me..."
Jack silenced the Doctor with a quick kiss that had him jumping back as if scalded. Jack regretted it as soon as he did it. He'd been so careful not to touch the Doctor knowing how wrong he was to the Time Lord. It was almost worth it for the look of surprise though.
The Doctor spun around and started exploring Jack's artefacts, seemingly disappointed when nothing was even remotely dangerous. He turned around again suddenly.
"You're wearing a suit," he said accusingly, "where's your coat and braces?"
"Director of Torchwood," Jack said, "it doesn't pay to stand out too much. You remembered the braces?"
"I like braces," the Doctor said, "very handy things braces."
Jack laughed, "I keep them for special occasions now. How is Rose going to cope with ordinary after travelling with you?"
"That's her choice, she'll be fine," the Doctor said, "I might have mentioned her to an old friend of mine, a reporter lady who investigates odd happenings. Just in case she wants something to do."
"I might give her my card just in case. Someone with her experience would be a real asset to Torchwood." The Doctor frowned at him. "It's changed," he added quickly, "I changed it. How's she at filing do you think?"
The Doctor laughed. "Will you come? To the wedding I mean, with me," the Doctor trailed off as he realised he was about to start babbling again.
"I'd love to," Jack said.
"Wonderful, let's go."
"Now?"
"No time like the present."
"What are the chances of you getting me back before anyone notices?"
"Time machine..." The Doctor rolled his eyes.
"Ex Time Agent, ended up a hundred years earlier than intended..." Jack retaliated, "anyway, have you got a present for them?"
"We can stop off on the way, there's a little place on Graxon Eleva..."
"Just let me leave a note. I'm not saying you won't get me back on time but just so nobody worries..."
Jack was pretty sure the wedding invitation had been an excuse and that there might be several more excuses before he got back to his office. It was a chance to see how Ianto coped without him anyway and he really had missed the running.
"Am I still wrong?" Jack had to ask.
"I'm sorry Jack; I shouldn't have said that to you. You're new and different and that can't be wrong. The kiss was pretty right too."
Jack looked at the Doctor in surprise at the admission. "That old thing? I can show so much better than that..."
"Prove it then, Captain..." the Doctor smiled.
"It's sir now actually," Jack corrected.
"Really? Did I ever tell you about the time I was knighted by Queen Victoria?" the Doctor retaliated. "Lovely lady but got a bit miffed over the werewolf."
Jack shut the Doctor up with another kiss. Longer and deeper this time and the Doctor didn't jump away.
"You will always be my Captain," the Doctor said when they came up for air.
"Then Captain it is," Jack said with a smile. He reached behind his door and grabbed his greatcoat to the Doctor's delight.
"Allons-y," the Doctor said happily.
"Is that supposed to be French?" Jack teased as he joined the Doctor.
The TARDIS leaving blew the note off Jack's desk but Ianto would never miss anything so important.
He came back Ianto,
We're going to a wedding, not ours unfortunately. I'm coming back to hand over Torchwood to you properly I promise. Yes you.
Look after Owen for me.
Love,
Jack.
END