He Came Back

Jack stood in front of Esther Drummond's grave. The funeral had been two days ago now and the graveyard was still full of people who were finally able to say goodbye to their loved ones. No more Category Ones, just corpses like there should be.

And Jack was once again immortal.

"I'm sorry," he said to her. She'd been so brave through the past few months, especially when they were on their own and he couldn't help her because he was dying. She'd grown so much tougher…and had deserved far better than this. Jack glanced over at the gates. Rex was sitting on a bench looking down at his hands. He was stuck, just like Jack was and neither of them had any idea what had happened. Jack was certain his blood had nothing to do with it. After all, it was his time that was wrong, not his body.

Jack set the flowers down among the growing pile. People had heard despite the CIA's cover ups what had happened. Torchwood was still secret but the incident at Buenos Aires had leaked. A few security guards here, a few bribes. The media had uncovered nearly everything about the brave little analyst. Jack had gone into the Internet and erased any mention of him self or Rex so at least they were safe. They didn't need scientists trying to unsuccessfully find out what made them immortal. He didn't want to be studied like some sort of lab rat. Jack's mind involuntarily went back to the 1920s in a certain butcher shop in Little Italy in New York. He shuddered.

"Thank you," he whispered to Esther and moved back to the entrance. Rex had stuck with him for now, not quite sure what to do with himself. He wasn't a former Time Agent who had traveled with a certain Doctor through space and time and was familiar with these sorts of things; he was just a human from when Earth was a Level Five planet—no idea about anything alien or time related.

The Doctor…

Jack missed the enigmatic Time Lord. The last time he had seen him, it had been from a distance and he didn't look well. Thinking of that drink at the bar made him think of Ianto again. Jack wished he could go back and save him—his Vortex Manipulator was working most of the time now—but that would involve crossing his own time stream and thatwas one thing he couldn't do. He couldn't rewrite time…could he? Could he save Ianto? Esther? Owen? Toshiko? The temptation to just undo everything that had happened hovered over Jack like a sword. He knew he couldn't, he knew he shouldn't and some part of him knew he wouldn't…but Jack thought to all those memories in the Hub…and his mind wrote some more. More memories of his team…Esther joining Torchwood so that Gwen could be with her family more. Rex dropping in every so often to say hi to everyone. Ianto making his special coffee.

Jack stopped himself. Everyone was dead because he had failed to save them. If he prevented them from dying in the first place, he'd just let them down again. He wasn't the Doctor who could save all his companions one way or another. Everyone who traveled with the Doctor had always lived, whether they were stuck in a parallel universe, emotionally traumatized or just didn't remember him. They always lived. Even Jack had been brought back. Sure that was Rose and the Bad Wolf, but what difference did that make?

Jack walked in silence, Rex trailing behind him. Neither men said anything; Jack couldn't even bring himself to flirt with the other immortal, too awkward. The wind gusted slightly, throwing trash and leaves around them. Jack heard a familiar whisper, like breathing, singing and speaking.

It can't be…why now?

"I'll catch up with you later," Jack told Rex and ran off towards the sound.

"Hey, World War Two!" Rex called after him but Jack was long gone.

Jack froze when he saw it: the TARDIS. Except that it looked slightly different; it was several shades darker and maybe a bit thinner. Maybe the Doctor had tried to fix that Chameleon Circuit of his again. The front door sported a new sticker, Jack couldn't quite see it.

The door opened and a totally smoking hot red head came out and looked around.

Another one already…he sure moves on fast.

Right behind the red head was a blonde man who immediately took the red heads hand.

"Doctor?" he muttered and moved forward. The man could be the Doctor; he had a similar look in his eyes that said he was older than she looked. Before he could get over and punch the Doctor for not being here when the Earth needed him, a third man stepped out. He was dressed kind of like a university professor with a bow tie and tweed and had a dazzling smile. Jack instantly knew who he was.

He ran up to the new Doctor, grabbed him by the jacket and gave him a punch filled with every ounce of pain and suffering that the last few months had entailed.

"Oi, you!" the red head shouted angrily before the blonde man grabbed Jack exactly like he had just grabbed the Doctor and punched him right out.

"He's coming around now," an unfamiliar voice reached the edge of Jack's consciousness. He stirred and tried to reach for his face but his hands were tied. He opened his eyes, he was on the TARDIS…well, a TARDIS. The doctor must've renovated to suit his new regeneration.

"Don't bother tryin' to move," the red head, a scot by the sound of her accent, glared at him from the console. Jack looked around. He was on a chair, probably the new pilot's seat. The blonde man who hit him was holding an ice pack to the Doctor's face.

"Hello, Jack," he greeted dryly.

Jack glared. "Doctor."

"Are you having a bad day today that you greet people by hitting them?" the Doctor pushed the ice pack away. "Really, Rory, stop it."

"Fine," the man, Rory, went to stand in front of Jack, draping his arm protectively around the red headed woman.

"Actually, you two, I need to talk to him…go find a fish and chips place," the Doctor tossed Rory a key and the two left, shooting glares at Jack. The moment the door closed, the Doctor untied him. Jack stood up and moved away from the Doctor, not trusting himself.

"So…" the Doctor began, eyeing Jack at an angle "What's wrong?"

Jack took a deep breath. "You really don't know?"

"There's a lot I know Jack and even more that I don't so if you could clarify…" the Doctor almost snapped. So this regeneration was more keyed to anger.

"You honestly haven't been looking at the Earth at all recently? Not even a glimpse?" Jack took a step closer, anger simmering.

"It's kind of hard to keep an eye on one little planet when you're rebooting a universe," replied the Doctor "So fill me in, Jack."

Jack chose to not ask about the universe. "A few months ago, something happened. No one died but that was the problem. Noonewas dying. At first it was like a dream come true but it quickly turned into a horrible nightmare. No one was dying, but they couldn't come back like I do," Jack paused, his temper rising "I've seen a man blow himself up and survive as a blackened corpse, I've seen a woman, a doctor, burned alive unable to die right to the very end. People who should've died were still breathing, suspended right on the cusp of life and death. The governments of the world had to categorize life…and they did it in the most bureaucratic, inhumane way possible. They had furnaces, Doctor! They burned people alive; had whole camps for the sick and injured. And no one said anything. Not one word. Except us," Jack was almost within punching range of the Doctor.

"Was it my fault?" the Doctor asked.

Jack shook his head. "No, it wasn't…but you could've been there, you should've been there. It took Gwen, Rex, Esther, Vera and I four months to do what you could've done a whole lot sooner. I wasn't immortal anymore, I had flipped. Families have been torn apart; people have been murdered because it couldn't be called murder anymore. And where were you? Where were you? If you love the Earth so much, why weren't you there for what could quite possibly be the worst crisis the planet has ever known?" Jack was shouting now, four months of tension and stress and a fear of death he thought he had long forgotten were coming back up. The Doctor listened in silence, his expression neutral.

"Is it still a problem?" he asked.

"No, I solved it. We solved it. Gwen and I…and Rex and Vera who burned to stop it and Esther who took a bullet to stop it; we defeated the Families and overturned the Blessing. We saved the day…but I still lost people. Again. Gwen and I are what are left of Torchwood," Jack turned away from the Doctor.

"So you didn't actually need my help," said the Doctor.

"I'm not you, I can't fix things fast enough to keep the people I care about from dying. Almost my whole team is dead. It's taking all my strength to keep Gwen, just Gwen, from being killed. I couldn't save anyone else. Vera and Esther are gone. Rex is now stuck like me and I have no idea how to fix it. I'm almost a hundred and sixty years old and in that time, how many people have I saved? How many have died?" Jack stopped and took a shaky breath.

"That feeling doesn't go away; I'm nine hundred and nine and I still ask myself that."

"I'M NOT LIKE YOU! I can't save everyone while having no plan, no weapons and a screwdriver! I can't just pick up and leave after something happens. I already tried that and now look at me; I came back and messed everything up again. I-"

He stopped when he saw the look on the Doctor's face, it wasn't neutral anymore. In his eyes was a cool anger, a warning for Jack to shut up and stop whining.

"I couldn't have prevented this…and neither could you. You're still young, Jack, still naïve…don't give me that look, you are young.I can't save everyone either. I destroy the lives of whoever I meet, like Rose, Martha and Donna even you. And yet, I realize that I'm even more dangerous on my own. I need someone to stop me, always have. You've lost people, Jack. She's not here at the moment but there's this woman who drops in on me every so often. She's known me for years; I've known her for a few occasions. The first time I met her…I saw her die. Right in front of me. She died, leaving me with the promise of a whole life together…a life I'm just beginning now…but she is still going to die and I can't save her," the Doctor's constant glare and even tone kept Jack from arguing. For once the Captain had nothing to say.

"All you can do is look forward and remember, Jack," the Doctor sat down in the pilots chair and sighed. "Let me tell you of a boy named Adric."

Jack sat down and listened. For hours, the Doctor his story…and another…and another until he couldn't say anything else. The pain in the Doctor's eyes matched what Jack was feeling only ten times worse.

"In the end, I'm just a mouthy brat, aren't I?" Jack chuckled.

"Nah, you're human and you're young. Your humanity allows you to feel these things and that is absolutely amazing. It's what I love about you humans. Me, I can call Amy and Rory back here, set the TARDIS for Space Florida, the Eye of Orion or any one of a hundred million beaches and forget everything over volleyball and jammy dodgers and fezzes. I don't have to feel anything if I don't want to. What does that make me?" the Doctor stood up again in one fluid motion and went to the door.

"You're right Jack, you can't run away…and that makes you so much better than me," he opened the door and Jack stepped out.

"I'm sorry I hit you," Jack pointed at the bruise.

"Can't even feel it," the Doctor tapped it and flinched. "Take care of yourself Jack.

Jack nodded and walked away, passing by the couple who were now traveling with the Doctor. Rex was waiting across the street…Gwen was with him.

I can only look forward…