Disclaimer: I don't own operate or have anything to do with the creators, publishers or distributors of Doctor Who other than being a rabid fangirl. This is a work of fiction based on existing characters and my own fantasy.

Parallel Worlds - Joined Lives
Chapter 1

Captain Jack Harkness sat at bar in a space dock orbiting above the planet Sto. Glancing around, he took stock of potential threats in the immediate area. One Judoon at the end of the bar, a large green Raxicoricofallipatorian at the table behind him and an Adipose walking across the bar in front of him. The vid screens above his head were showing footage of a luxury cruise ship that had time-jumped back to early 21st Century Earth and had an accident, barely missing crashing into Buckingham Palace. The ticker read Sabotage! The stool next to him was currently empty but it was still early; the end of the second space-shift didn't occur for another standard galactic hour. It's just me and my thoughts. I can't get Alice's words out of my head. I know I made the right decision. It was sacrifice my grandchild or the entire human race… but damn, it is tearing me apart. I have to live knowing I made that choice and alienated my daughter forever. I couldn't stay on Earth and watch Gwen's growing happiness with her pregnancy or the joy she will have when her daughter is born. I couldn't bear her happiness not when all of mine has been ripped away from me. Face it Jack – You are running away. Only you have all time and space in front of you and no one to run to. Torchwood is gone. Martha and Mickey hitched up, the Doctor is God-knows-where and Rose is trapped in a parallel world. Everyone you love is gone or has moved on without you.

With a sigh at his now empty glass, he waived at the bartender to bring him another. Walking over to Jack, the bartender passed him a note along with his drink. "From the man over there", he jerked his thumb over his shoulder and stepped away.

In surprise, Jack looked up and saw one of the objects of his thoughts standing 20 feet away but making no move to join him. Instead the Doctor nodded at the note in Jack's hand. Opening it, he read:

His name is Alonso.

Looking up in confusion, the Doctor nodded to the empty stool, which was being currently being filled by a young attractive man in a sailor suit. The sailor threw his hat on the bar and slumped down in obvious distress.

Still at a distance and with pain etched across his face the Doctor gave Jack a salute. Without thinking Jack jumped up and returned it watching in sadness as his dearest friend walked away. There was something very final in that exchange. It was goodbye. I am guessing he is going to regenerate, and this time, there is nothing he can do. My Doctor will soon be gone.

Still lost in thought, Jack sat back down. Spying the note in front of him he read it again. Turning to the man now seated next to him he said, "So, Alonzo…"

The man seated next to him turned to stare at him in obvious shock.

"Goin' my way?"

"How did you know my name?"

Turning on the full wattage of the patented Capt. Jack Harness smile, he responded "I'm kind of psychic."

"Really?" Alonzo said with a laugh before taking a better look at Jack. "Know what I am thinking right now?"

"Oh yeah!" Jack returned with a grin and drained his glass. "Want to go back to my place? I have an aged Scotch that is better than anything they have here for making your sorrows disappear."

"That sounds excellent mate."

Jack paid his tab and gestured for Alonzo to precede him out the door. "Allons-y Alonzo."

"Funny, I had a chap say that to me earlier this evening. Nice enough man, but he disappeared after the disaster. Not surprising really, not many of us survived…"

"I know exactly what you mean."

Jack pressed his hand against the doorplate of his room and ushered Alonzo inside. As soon as the door closed behind them, they fell into each other's arms. Clothes disappeared before they had taken more than two steps in to the room. Within moments they were engaged in a method of comfort known for centuries – lost in skin, sensation, lips, hands, and fleeting passion.

Jack woke alone to the soft chiming of the alarm on his watch. Shutting it off, he lay back under the covers and thought again about the Doctor. I know he was saying goodbye, but I can't let him go yet. I need him now, more than I ever needed him before. Only, how am I going to get to him when I never know when or where he is going to be? Could I even travel with him again without Rose? She is as important to me as he is. I need them both, but she is trapped in an parallel universe. The beginning of an idea started to form. Can I do it? I would be crossing my own timeline, but if I am careful… I may be able to pull it off. I have ridden on the outside of the TARDIS before. Do I dare? Would I risk everything just to be with them again?

With growing excitement Jack jumped up to get dressed. Setting the date and location on time vortex manipulator to Hyde Park, London – 2009. Upon arriving at the site, he strolled across the park to a specific location, hid behind some trees, and sat down to wait.

An hour later, the familiar whirring noise of the TARDIS made him smile. Cautiously he watched the scene unfold in front of him. A scene directly out of his past.

The Doctor, Jack and Martha stepped out of the TARDIS and into the beautiful summer afternoon. They stretched and smiled at each other. Suddenly the Doctor grabbed Jack's wrist.

Using his sonic screwdriver on the time vortex manipulator, the Doctor said, "I told you, no teleport! And, Martha, get rid of that Osterhagen thing, eh? Save the world one more time."

"Consider it done." Martha replied.

Both Jack and Martha looked to the Doctor and saluted him. Slightly surprised at the action, he returned it with a smile. Jack and Martha turned and walked away, hand in hand. Their conversation drifted back behind them.

Jack turned to Martha, "You know, I'm not sure about UNIT these days. Maybe there's something else you could be doing."

The Doctor watched them go, a touch of sadness in his smile. Surprised at a noise behind him, the Doctor twisted to see Mickey emerging from the TARDIS. "Oi, where are you going?"

"Well I'm not stupid; I can work out what happens next. And hey, I had a good time in that parallel world, but my gran passed away. Nice and peaceful. She spent her last years living in a mansion. There's nothing there for me now, certainly not Rose." Mickey responded.

"What will you do?"

"Anything! Brand new life! Just you watch. See you, Boss."

Laughing the Doctor and Mickey bumped fists before Mickey ran to catch up with Martha and Jack. "Hey, you two!"

"Oh. Thought I'd got rid of you." The exasperation in Jack's tone was more for show than any real annoyance on his part.

"Nope." Mickey threw his arms around their shoulders as they turned the corner. The Doctor watched them for a few seconds more before stepping back into the TARDIS. "Just time for one last trip. Darlig Ulv Stranden. Better known as..."

This is my chance. Creeping from behind the trees, Jack locked his arms around the TARDIS as she started to dematerialize again. Unlike the last time he did this, the TARDIS didn't protest the action. She is a sentient being too, though we all tend to forget that. She must sense my need… or maybe there is something she needs from me.

The TARDIS rematerialized on a stretch of sandy beach. The faint whirring of a Zeppelin could be heard in the distance. Quickly Jack let go of his hold on the TARDIS and ran to hide behind a dune to watch another scene unfold. One that he was not privy too before...

The Doctor and Rose emerged from the TARDIS. She looked around. Shaking her head she said "Bad Wolf Bay."

"Ah, fat lot of good this is! Back of beyond. Bloody Norway! I'm gonna have to phone your father, he's on the nursery run." Jackie's voice held disgust.

Donna and a second Doctor stepped out of the TARDIS.

Turning to the Doctor nearest Rose - a hybrid born of the Human-Time Lord Metacrisis, Jackie continued, "I was pregnant, do you remember? Had a baby boy!"

The hybrid Doctor replied, "Ah, brilliant! What did you call him?"

"Doctor."

"Really?"

Jackie couldn't keep the smile from her face, "No, you plum! He's called Tony."

Rose turned and looked again at the location, "Hold on, this is... the parallel universe, right?"

The Doctor replied. "You're back home."

Donna added "And the walls of the world are closing again, now that the Reality Bomb never happened. It's dimensional retroclosure. See, I really get that stuff now."

Rose was agitated as she responded. "No, but... I spent all that time trying to find you. I'm not going back now!"

The Doctor answered her with a touch of sadness in his voice. "But you've got to. Cos we saved the universe, but at a cost." He looked and nodded to the hybrid Doctor standing next to her. "And the cost is him. He destroyed the Daleks. He committed genocide. He's too dangerous to be left on his own."

The hybrid Doctor replied, anger apparent in his voice. "You made me!"

"Exactly. You were born in battle, full of blood and anger and revenge." Turning to Rose he continued, "Remind you of someone? That's me, when we first met. And you made me better. Now you can do the same for him."

"But he's not you."

"He needs you. That's very me."

Donna interjected hoping to smooth things out, "But it's better than that, though. Don't you see what he's trying to give you?" She nodded to the hybrid Doctor next to Rose. "Tell her, go on."

"I look like him, I think like him, same memories, same thoughts, same everything. Except I've only got one heart." The hybrid Doctor said carefully.

Rose was still confused "Which means?"

"I'm part human. Specifically, the aging part. I'll grow old and never regenerate. I've only got one life... Rose Tyler. I could spend it with you. If you want."

"You'll grow - grow old... at the same time as me?"

"Together."

Rose reached out to place her hand on the hybrid Doctor's heart. Feeling only a single beat, she stared up into his eyes, confused.

Donna and the Doctor stood by the TARDIS door smiling until a grinding noise reminded them that time was slipping away. "We've got to go; this reality is sealing itself off... forever." Both he and Donna turned to go back into the TARDIS.

Rose wasn't quite ready to give up, "But... it's still not right... cos the Doctor is... still you."

"And I'm him!"

Flustered, Rose finally said, "All right. Both of you, answer me this. When I last stood on this beach, on the worst day of my life, what was the last thing you said to me? Go on, say it."

The Doctor replied, "I said, "Rose Tyler."

"Yeah, and how was that sentence gonna end?"

Pain evident in his voice, the Doctor replied, "Does it need saying?"

Turning to the hybrid Doctor next to her, she asked, "And you, Doctor? What was the end of that sentence?"

Without pausing to think the hybrid Doctor leaned in to whisper into her ear. "I love you."

Rose pulled back slightly to look at him. Then without any hesitation or fear she pulled him into a kiss. For the first time, the passion they had been keeping from each other was fully realized. As their lips danced together and their focus remained on each other, they missed seeing the devastated expression on the Doctor's face as he and Donna stepped back into the TARDIS. Only the sound of the TARDIS dematerializing broke them apart. Pulling away, she ran toward it, but she could do nothing but watch it disappear.

Slowly the hybrid Doctor – HER Doctor walked forward and took her hand. He gently turned her to look at him and together they to walked back down the beach to where Jackie was waiting.

Still hiding behind the sand dune, the tears streamed down Jack's face. I know that heartbreak. I can't join them yet. They need time to recover and build a relationship on their own. I am here in this world and I can't die. I can be patient for a while longer.

Jack watched as a vehicle came to pick up the Tylers and the Doctor. Feeling like it was finally safe for him to emerge; he walked the length of the beach. He paused at the point where the TARDIS had rested and put his hand down into the faint lingering warmth. Suddenly, a trick of light glinted off of a piece of crystallized coral about the length of his hand. Picking it up, he could feel the energy pulsing inside it. So this is why the TARDIS let me ride on her without a fuss. She wanted me to find this and give it to him – a final parting gift showing her love.

Suddenly, feeling lighter hearted than he had in several months, Jack tucked the crystal into his jacket pocket and walked toward the road.