Fic: DrWho/TW crossover - The Greatest Gift - Prologue
Title: The Greatest Gift [working] - Prologue
Auther: ravengrimm
Pairing/Characters: Cpt Jack, the Doctor
Genre: Crossover - Torchwood/Doctor Who, angsty, possible Pre-slash
Rainting: PG
Word Count: 870
Warnings: none
Spoilers: DrWho - up to 4.16, TW - CoE
Summary: Jack has returned to Earth after wandering the stars and he kind of wishes he hadn't, but some how his luck seems to be changing...
Jack stares at the papers held loosely in his fingertips, wishing he could forget, wishing it didn’t hurt so damn much. His eyes blur over the name printed across the top of the sheet, he doesn’t want to see, doesn’t want to remember. The memory of loosing him, of Ianto dieing in Jack’s arms is seared, eternal across Jack’s undying mind. Burnt into his eyes, like a branding of his failure, his inability to save him.
Yet another person Jack loves has been snatched away from him. Jack looses everyone, he always will. If they aren’t taken from him, then Jack will simply live while they grow old and die. They all die, except Jack, except the Doctor, but even he may die one too many times and then there really will only be Jack.
The hub’s rebuild is bigger than the original, emptier, more rooms, more walls to bounce off, more places to hid away. The emptiness is almost painful, echoing the loneliness he feels. It aches, throbs inside. Never-ending.
He wonders why he came back. Why here? Why now? There’s nothing left for him here, no team, even Gwen is busy with married life, with Ryhs and the new baby. Jack can’t take that happiness away from her by asking her to return to this place, by even letting her know he’s back.
He tucks the papers away into the cardboard file and props his elbows on the desk, the silence swelling around him, ready to swallow him whole.
He stares glassy-eyed at the wall, fragments of memories flitting behind his eyes. He sees Owen messing around at his desk, his office chair swinging this way and that as he makes conversation.
He sees Toshiko, her pretty little eyes on Owen’s back, watching slyly, a tiny smile on her lips as she studies him, blushing and looking away when he turns her way, Owen utterly oblivious to the affection she held for him.
He sees Gwen laughing at something Owen has said, her mouth wide, her eyes bright, Toshiko laughing quietly behind a notepad, her eyes flicking up to admire the goofy grin on Owen’s face.
He sees Ianto standing in his doorway, handsome and dashing in the waistcoat and tie. Sees that coy little smile, that suggestive look in his eyes, sees the stopwatch in his hand… It makes Jack smile but also want to cry and he barriers his face in his hands.
That’s when he hears it; that unmistakeable sound. And Jack is on his feet, snatching up his coat, and down the stairs before he even realises he’s moving.
He’s in the main chamber, when he feels the wind, sees the light fading into view in front of him. His heart is racing, his hands shaking as he sees the shape forming and he almost can’t breath.
A part of him thinks he must be dreaming, Jack just isn’t this lucky, is never this lucky, basically all of his life is like a beacon for misfortune and loose.
The whirring fades away and Jack can’t move. Can’t even raise a hand to feel if the box is real, if he’s really seeing it. He had searched the starts for weeks, for months, he can’t remember how long. Any trace he came across, every trail he happened upon grew cold and eventually he gave up looking. Came back, came here, because the one place Jack can’t look in is time. He can’t go back to his own, can’t trail after a mysterious blue box, from star to planet, from moon to sun.
But somehow, just as Jack had given up…
When the doors slide open Jack’s stomach summersaults into his throat, but still he can’t move. He stares into the TARDIS, his pulse ringing in his ears.
“Well,” the Doctor says abruptly, his head suddenly in the doorway. “Are you coming in or what?”
Jack blinks and breathes out the breath he hadn’t realised he’d been holding.
It’s him. It’s really him!
Jack spares the Hub a fleeting glance, there’s nothing here that is his, not really, everything is new, everything is empty. He runs into the ship, strangely out of breath and buckles over, resting his hands on his knees.
He stays that way a moment, just taking in the sight of the Doctor working away at the ships computer, his back to Jack.
“Close the door, you’ll let a draft in,” the Doctor says over his shoulder before flashing Jack a wide grin and turning back to the computer. Jack pushes the doors shut and revels in the familiar click of the lock.
He waits a moment, fighting the part of him that seems determined to believe that this is a dream. He needs conformation, he needs proof, he needs a Doctor…
His legs feel shaky, like a child taking its first steps and when he reaches the Doctor, he wraps his arms around him, tightly across his chest and berries his face against the Doctor’s neck.
The Doctor jumps a little at the sudden contact but relaxes and laughs. “It’s good to see you too Jack,” he says and all Jack can manage is a nod against the Time-lords neck.
He’s real.
Thanks for reading :)