Title: Foolish Games
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Tenth Doctor/Jack Harkness
Fandom: Doctor Who/Torchwood
Rating: R
Table: Cadenza challenge, 5_prompts
Prompt: Second verse -- It was a foolish game I played
Author's Note: Continuation of Lightning Crashes
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.

***

The Doctor sighed contentedly, lying back against Jack's chest. The immortal was once again back on the Tardis, the two of them together, as he'd dreamed they would be for so long. All was right with his life for the first time in what seemed like an eternity.

How long had it been since he'd lain in this man's arms and felt completely at ease? He couldn't remember the last time that had happened; all the times they'd been together at the Hub had felt rushed, furtive, as though they had to get it over with quickly.

Those days were over, the Doctor thought dreamily, closing his eyes and snuggling into Jack's embrace. The other man had left Torchwood for good; he'd explained to them that his place was with the Doctor, and that they could get along without him.

They'd done it before, of course; there was no reason why Jack had to be around. His friendships there would still be strong, and they would return to Earth to help the team if they were needed. But Jack had told them that he wouldn't come back permanently.

"This feels right, doesn't it?" Jack asked, his voice soft. The Doctor blinked, almost startled to hear his lover's voice. He'd been so deep in thought that he'd let himself drift into dreams for a moment, feeling more comfortable than he had in months.

"It certainly does," he murmured, turning over onto his side and sliding his arms around Jack's waist. The other man pulled him closer, one hand moving down to cup the curve of his ass, making the Doctor blush and wriggle slightly under that firm touch.

"I played some really foolish games with you," Jack said softly, raising a hand to brush a recalcitrant lock of hair back from the Doctor's forehead. "We should have always been like this, Doctor. I was stupid to leave. But I had what I thought were good reasons at the time."

The Doctor nodded somberly, his sigh almost inaudible. "I know you thought those reasons were good ones, Jack," he began, wondering just how to go about broaching this subject. "But I think you really left because you were afraid of how close we were."

"That's exactly it," Jack said with an answering sigh. "I was scared because I'd never been that close to anybody before. Sex is easy for me, Doctor. Intimacy isn't. And love .... I'd been in love before, but it had always ended badly. So I ran before you could."

"Did it ever occur to you that I wasn't playing foolish games, and that I wasn't going to run?" the Doctor asked, keeping his voice soft. "I wanted to be with you, Jack. Maybe it was wrong of me to be such a clinging vine, but I didn't know what else to do."

"I should have just told you how I felt," Jack admitted, tightening his arm around the Time Lord's waist. "If I'd been brave enough to do that, then there wouldn't have been so much misunderstanding between us. And I wouldn't have hurt you so badly."

"I know that you didn't mean to hurt me, Jack," the Doctor told him, placing a hand on the other man's smooth cheek. "At the time, I had my doubts, but I always knew in my hearts that you thought you were doing the right thing for yourself."

"The problem is that I was thinking of myself -- not of you," Jack said, closing his eyes and leaning into the Doctor's touch. "I'm sorry about that, Doc. I just kept thinking that if I stayed, I'd end up hurting you more than I would if I got out of your life and let you find somebody else."

"There was never anyone else for me," the Doctor told him, his voice catching in his throat. "There never has been, and there never will be. You're the one, Jack. You've been the one since the time we first met -- even though I've done my fair share of hurting you, too."

"You were in a different body when you left me," Jack told him, a hint of laughter in his voice. "And I can imagine how you felt at the time. I was pretty freaked out by what I'd become myself. Maybe it's a good thing that I wasn't with you while I was finding out about immortality."

"I've often wondered if it would have been better for you to be with me," the Doctor said thoughtfully, letting his hand fall to Jack's chest and splaying his fingers across the other man's velvety skin. "It would have been better than what I was putting up with."

Jack winced at the memory of the companion that the Doctor had been with at the time; he'd had enough of that childish, bratty selfishness himself. "I can't say that I was completely pissed off about being left behind. I was ready to get away from that myself."

"When we met again, I couldn't help wondering what you would think of me," the Doctor admitted, his dark eyes meeting Jack's. "I thought you'd like the body I was in -- but I halfway expected you to punch me in the face and knock me across the room."

"For a few minutes there, I wanted to," Jack admitted with a wry laugh. "But then I got a good look at you -- and I realized that I would lots rather kiss you than hit you. And do other things besides kissing you, even though I didn't say that at the time."

"No, it took you a while to work up to that," the Doctor laughed, burrowing into his lover's embrace as Jack's arms tightened around him. "And I'm glad you did. I already knew that I wanted you, but falling in love with you took me some time, too."

"Did it?" Jack sounded surprised by his words. "I thought you fell in love with me right from the beginning, when you were in your last body. I could look into your eyes and tell that you wanted me, even though you never acted on that desire."

"You wanted me, too," the Doctor told him, his tone reproving. "But you never said anything to that effect, either -- other than the little hints you dropped." He laughed softly, shaking his head. "It seems that we've wasted a lot of time playing foolish games with each other, doesn't it?"

"We've wasted too much time, if you ask me," Jack told him, his hands moving up the Doctor's back, eliciting a soft moan from the man in his arms. "But now that we're both back where we belong, we need to concentrate on making up for all that wasted time."

The Doctor gave himself over to Jack's embrace, the other man's lips meeting his in an explosion of sensation. He wanted those lips all over his body; he wanted to sink into Jack's embrace, to make up for all those wasted months in the space of one night of ecstasy.

He'd been alone for what felt like a lifetime, frozen in place, unable to move forward and unwilling to look back because of the pain it would cause him. But now, in Jack's arms, that frozen feeling was melting away, letting hm move freely again and get on with his life.

The time for playing foolish games was long over, he told himself as Jack's hands began to stroke his body, unleashing a shower of sparks throughout his entire being. From now on, they would say what they meant, mean what they said, and put all of the games behind them for good.

***