Title: Free As A Bird
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Tenth Doctor/Jack Harkness
Fandom: Doctor Who/Torchwood
Rating: PG-13
Table: 2, 50episodes
Prompt: 35, Encounter
Disclaimer: This is entirely a product of my own imagination, and I make no profit from it. I do not own the Tenth Doctor or Jack Harkness. Please do not sue.

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Jack raised himself up on one elbow to look down at the man sleeping beside him, a small smile curving his lips as he did so. His smile was in answer to the one on the Doctor's face; the Time Lord slept soundly, as though he was completely satiated.

Jack had no doubt that he was. They had made love three times before the Doctor had laughingly said that he'd had enough; Jack had held him until he'd fallen asleep, knowing that the Doctor had a lot on his mind and that he needed to rest.

He was worried that the Master hadn't shown himself for what seemed to have been a very long time; Jack was sure that the bastard was out there somewhere, just waiting to jump out of the woodwork when he was least expected, to complicate their lives yet again.

But at the moment, there didn't seem to be any immediate dangers -- though Jack was sure that the two of them would manage to find some sort of trouble to get into before too long. The Doctor was a trouble magnet; he couldn't go long without getting into some scrape.

That was one of the things he loved about being with this man, Jack thought as his smile grew wider. Life with the Doctor was never boring; he would never have to sit around and wait for something to d. If they weren't finding trouble, they were enjoying each other.

They had so much wasted time to make up for, Jack thought wistfully, reaching out to brush a few errant strands of tawny hair back from the Doctor's forehead. If only he hadn't been so stupid as to walk away from this man, he would have saved them both a lot of heartache.

He had always prided himself on not letting his heart get involved in his encounters; he had walked away from every person he'd ever been with having a sense of satisfaction, and fond memories of good times. But no one had ever really touched his heart.

Not until the Doctor. He should have realized why it was so hard to leave this man -- because he had fallen head over heels in love with the Time Lord. Only at the time, the thought of being in love had terrified him, and he'd run as far away from it as he could get.

It had taken him far too much time to realize that love wasn't going to tie him down, or make him feel like a prisoner. Love was going to keep him safe and secure, comfort him when he most needed it, and give him someone to bond with. It wasn't going to hurt him.

Why had he always taken such a negative stance on falling in love? Jack asked himself, his smile turning to a frown. He had always let himself believe that love was a state of mind he didn't want to embrace; he'd seen it hurt far too many people.

But he hadn't been able to stop himself from falling in love with the Doctor, though he'd tried his best. Every physical encounter they had, he'd tried to keep to just that; he had tried to hard to make himself believe that he wasn't in love, only enjoying their sensuality.

He'd known from the moment he walked away from the Time Lord that he was giving up something precious and rare, something that would never come into his life again. But at the time, he had convinced himself that he was doing them both a favor.

He hadn't wanted to fall in love. And even though he'd known that the Doctor loved him as well, he had tried to make himself believe that the Time Lord would be better off without him, that he could never be faithful to any one person. That he would only break the Doctor's hearts.

How long had it taken for him to realize that wasn't true? No time at all, he thought ruefully. He'd known it when he was walking out of the Tardis; all he'd wanted to do was to turn around and go back inside, take the Doctor into his arms and swear that he would never leave.

Jack sighed softly, closing his eyes. But he had left. He had wanted to be as free as a bird, flitting from one flower to the next like a hummingbird, sucking the nectar out of each one before moving on to the next, without a care in the world other than his own gratification.

He had thought that would be enough, for a while. But he'd never been able to get the Doctor out of his mind -- or out of his heart. The Time Lord's face had always haunted him, until he was at the point where he couldn't enjoy being with anyone.

All of the encounters he'd had with nameless, faceless people had turned out to be less than satisfactory, to say the least. He'd always had a feeling of emptiness when he'd left them; there had been no glow of having a good time, only a leaden despondence.

Why had he waited so long before admitting to himself that the only person who could make him feel alive again was the Doctor? Maybe because he hadn't wanted to admit that he, the all-powerful Jack Harkness, could make such a huge mistake, he reflected wryly.

Leaving the Time Lord had been the biggest mistake he'd ever made in his life -- and he was sure in all the centuries that were to come, he would never make a more monumental one. He belonged with Doctor; he should have always known that.

Being without the Doctor had never really been an option. The entire time that he'd been with Torchwood, he had just been going through the motions; he'd felt as though he was barely alive, only a ghost moving through the lives of the people he knew.

Yes, he'd had the freedom he so coveted -- he'd been as free as a bird, untethered and uncaged, able to do anything he wanted when it came to relationships. It had taken him so long to realize that there would only ever be one person he truly wanted to be with.

The Doctor was the other half of his soul. A part of him had known that from the beginning, but he had let his fears of becoming too close to anyone overwhelm him, and talk him into pushing the man he loved away. He was just lucky that the Doctor had given him another chance.

What would he have done without that second chance? Jack shuddered at the thought; he didn't want to dwell on what his life would have been like, what he might have become. It wasn't a pleasant thought, and it wasn't one he wanted to linger in his mind.

He didn't need freedom. He didn't need anything but traveling with the Doctor, being near him, loving him. Having the Time Lord by his side meant more to him than anything else in the world ever could. He just wished that it hadn't taken him so damn long to figure that out.

Every encounter with the Doctor was miles apart from being with anyone else. He had never met anyone who fit with him so perfectly, who was everything he wanted all rolled into one person. This incarnation of the Doctor had been made for him.

How could he have ever thought that he wanted to be free, when he had this man's hearts? Jack smiled as he let his fingertips lightly caress the sleeping Time Lord's face. He would never wish to be free again. He didn't need freedom. Not when he had this.

It hardly seemed possible that he had ever thought he wanted to be as free as a bird. All he really wanted was to spend the rest of eternity with the man he loved, the man who was right here by his side, in his arms, and in his heart.

He'd been a fool to take so long to discover that, Jack chastised himself. But now that he had, he was going to hold on to that knowledge for the rest of his life. No matter what might happen in the future, he was where he belonged. And where he meant to stay.

Nothing would ever tear him away from the Doctor's side again. Certainly not his own doubts and fears, which he should never have let take him over in the first place. If he hadn't, he would have saved them both a lot of time -- and a lot of loneliness.

That was behind them now, he thought as he carefully slid his arms around the Doctor and pulled his lover close. He would never think that he wanted to be free again. Being in love was the most intoxicating freedom he'd ever had -- and he embraced it with all his heart.

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