Answers were supposed to make things clearer, not confuse him even more, thought Tony as she sipped his (excellent) coffee and listened to Jack's explanation. Time Agents, a doctor of some sort, a thing called 'the rift'. Bad Wolf? What in the hell did that mean? Jack was immortal. Jack was a time traveler. Jack was from the 51st century.

And he really DID smell amazing.

Torchwood was Earth's last line of defense against alien hostility, along with U.N.I.T. how had he never heard of them before?

"Not to be rude, but, how the hell haven't I heard about you guys yet?"

"Because it's a need to know deal," came the somewhat smug reply.

"But… we're the Avengers…. We're Earth's last line of defense…" he waved his hands.

"Fury convinced me that you all had it handled," Jack shrugged, "You know it is really strange that that whole mess happened in America. Usually it happens at a Rift point here in England. Don't you remember the Cybermen? Ghosts? The Dalek invasion?"

"Locked in Ice for 70 years," Steve whispered.

"Locked in… uh… my lab," Tony frowned, "I need to drink less,"

"Don't worry. If anything really dangerous happens to show up, we'll take care of it. Or the Doctor will come,"

Both Steve and Tony bristled at the implication that they couldn't protect their world, but after meeting Jack's calm and level gaze they abated. Tony was new to this whole superhero gig, and Steve was only just understanding the new world he had woken up in. This Torchwood, they learned, was an old organization that operated outside of the law, outside of the government. Inside the shadows where they protected, cleaned up, and… covered up.

"Captain, I still don't, uh, I…" Steve trailed off, pain on his face. Jack sighed.

"First off Steve, how many times did I tell you to just call me Jack?"

"He's hardly a captain anywho," Owen chimed in, which earned him a long suffering look.

"What?" Steve thought he'd spent his entire waking time since the ice in an unending state of confusion.

"Well, I was never really in the Air Force. But I am the one and only… well… um, damn it, I'm more attractive as Captain Jack Harkness, don't you think?"

"That's not your real name?"

Jack shook his head and nibbled a biscuit, "No, the real Captain Jack Harkness was a cute pilot during the Second World War. After he dies, well, I do wear it well, no? And he wouldn't mind," He finished with an odd look of melancholy remembrance.

"What is your real name?" Steve asked quietly.

"Good luck on that one! OW!"

"Thanks Ianto,"

Ianto took his seat again after having expertly lobbed the empty biscuit tin over the railing into autopsy. Owen's mild cursing filtered up and everyone shared a chuckle. No one however missed that Jack had sidestepped the question and plowed onto his explanation for having come to the earth in the first place.

"You were a con-man?" Steve gasped.

"I was also an unashamed coward," Jack's smile grew wistful, "The Doctor changed that. Damn do I miss being a coward sometimes,"

"Tony reached over and gripped Jack's arm in mutual suffering.

"Ahh, let me guess, Captain America over there dragged the heroics right out of you? He has that talent too,"

Tony laughed and started to agree but Steve cut him off.

"No,"

Tony looked over at him, "No?"

"You were a hero already Tony," Steve's voice was small. Both men were remembering an argument long since ignored and buried.

The Hub fell into a silence and Steve went to continue, still studying his feet, but Myfanway screamed and swooped into the Hub.

Steve blinked. Tony gasped. And Jack chuckled.

"Really, you both fought Asgardians, and a simple pterodactyl renders you two speechless?"

"Why is the world changing so fast?" Steve moaned into his hands.

It was Ianto, arriving with another tray of coffee, who answered,

"It isn't. And that's what's terrifying," he passed out the coffee. Tony hadn't even noticed his was empty. Ianto nodded to his quiet, impressed murmur, "The Earth has always been strange. Not because life developed here—life is everywhere. But strange in that our luck is extraordinary. Important turning points seem happen here. Strange and terrible things happen here. But we are so ordinary, so tiny. We have very little to offer the universe right now,"

Ianto paused and placed a reassuring hand on Steve's knee, "But this makes us fight. And the human race will always fight. It's what we're best at. Fight to survive, to expand, to exist. One day we will be scattered, changed, but we will always be the most remarkable of unremarkable beings,"

"How do you know?" It was Tony who asked in a quiet and shaking voice.

"Because I've seen it. And I'm proof. The weevils are proof. The Hub is proof. You two are proof," Jack's voice was also small, but convicted, "And the Doctor believes in us too,"

"Doctor? Doctor Harper?" Steve twisted to peer down at their poorly concealed eavesdropping audience.

"GOD no," Jack gave a shudder, "But the Doctor is a story you'll have to experience for yourself. He'll be by StarkTower eventually. He loves famous historical figures," he nodded toward Tony.

"I'm not a historical figure yet," Tony protested, feeling older suddenly.

"The Doctor will be the judge of that. Now," Jack leaned forward, "Why don't we get down to why you're here? Because, excuse me for saying so, Miss Potts is a much more welcome sight—not that you two aren't delicious looking. And I know that one, you wouldn't go anywhere for business," an eyebrow was canted at Tony, "and two, if it were business, I doubt you would drag poor Steve here along for the ride,"

Steve looked almost pleadingly at Tony who responded with a firm 'not me' motion.

So Steve told Captain Jack Harkness, nearly 70 years later, about his admiration, appreciation, and love.

Steve explained about Tony's gesture of kindness that had revealed Jack's continued existence, and blushing faintly Steve told him about the website and Pepper setting up their meeting. He told Jack just how much he had appreciated another friend while in the Program. He told Jack about how the older man had helped him.

"And, I guess… I just wanted to thank you, Captain—Jack. You helped me when I was first figuring out how to be Captain America, and… back then I was to ashamed to admit my feelings," Steve cast his eyes aside, "I guess I never forgot my first love,"

Jack listened to Steve's tale with rapt attention. He'd known the younger man looked up to him, had liked him. But he was still touched to hear it from the source. When Steve finished, Jack hugged him tightly. Both Tony and Ianto were doing their best to be invisible, looking around and fighting the urge to cough and fidget. They were men, damnit. Men didn't do feelings like this. Certainly not the stark and bare exchange they'd just witnessed.

"Thanks for telling me Steve. I always knew you'd turn out great, but even I couldn't imagine you'd be this good. You were, are, and always shall be someone I admire and am proud to call my friend," Jack began to grin and ruffled the soldier's hair, "But, you're a terrible liar. I was never your first love. And he did love you back. He loved you more than anything, with all his heart. He followed you until the very end, never looking back,"

Steve's eyes were wide as the realization came over him, "Bucky?"

"Even if you two never said it—or realized just what it was, I know you bother knew it was there, and special. You were both there," Jack smiled.

Steve just laughed, tears in his eyes and on his cheeks.

Later, when he and Tony took their leave, Jack leaned in and whispered something in Steve's ear.

"Hey!" Tony looked at his friend expectantly, reading wonder, hope, and a dazzling happiness on the older man's face.

Jack just shook his head and said, "Spoilers!"

Ianto watched Jack as the two American superheroes strolled away.

"What did you tell him Sir?"

"A little Spoiler about a certain Winter Soldier. What's the date?"

Ianto told him.

"Steve's gonna have a little leg up on next year, is all,"

Ianto smiled, "You're a good man Jack. Now come help me by being bad. I need the others to see me add some sugar to the coffee pot out of this after you get your cup," Ianto tossed Jack an empty container with the intergalactic symbol for poison on it.

"Oooh, Ianto, I love it when you're bad!"

Fin.