Title: Desert Rose
By: _usakeh_
Fandom: Torchwood
Pairing: Jack/Lawrence
Rating: PG-13
Author’s Note: This was written for taffimai.

Jack had never intended to end up in the middle of the desert, riding a camel next to Lawrence of Arabia. But when a bomb had derailed his train in the middle of the desert and he’d been shot by one of Lawrence’s men only to come back to life with a gasp, Lawrence’s eyes had widened in shock and he’d raced down to collect Jack. Lawrence’s reaction to his resurrection was one of the calmest Jack had seen for a long time; most people tended to believe that he was some sort of nightmare, or that he was possessed by the devil. Lawrence merely asked that he join the Arab Revolt. His eyes had been trained on Jack’s as he simply said, “A man who cannot die. You may be of use to us.”

Jack had never intended to end up as Lawrence’s lover, either. But that had a way of happening to him. It had begun at an oasis, on one of the desert’s rare rainy nights. The two of them had been soaked through; as soon as Jack began to take off his clothes he felt Lawrence turn towards him and begin to watch. Jack was completely nude when Lawrence stepped forward – still fully clothed – and pulled him close. The kiss that followed was rough, desperate; Lawrence’s need burned as intensely as the sun bore down on the dunes. Once it was over, Lawrence never spoke of it; from then on, though, he hardly let Jack leave his side. And whenever they were alone, Lawrence would reach for him again.

Jack had never intended to fall in love with a doomed man. But he did. And when he stepped out of a rainy London night years later to see Lawrence’s memorial, he was surprised to find that his eyes grew as wet with tears as the ground had been flooded with rain on their very first night.