Title: Trust Takes Time
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Tenth Doctor/Jack Harkness
Fandom: Doctor Who/Torchwood
Rating: PG-13
Table: Connect 3, Graph 2, in 5_prompts
Prompt: 3, Learn to trust
Author's Note: Continuation of Missed Opportunity.
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 leaned against the console of the Tardis, propping his chin in his hands and heaving a sigh. He should feel much happier than he was; for once, it seemed that everything was going right in his life, with no trouble brewing on the horizon.

But there was a little canker of doubt that had been growing ever since Jack had come back into his life. A voice that piped up from time to time in the back of his mind, a voice that he couldn't keep quiet, no matter how hard he tried.

He'd trusted Jack once before. He'd believed the immortal when he had said that he wanted to be with the Doctor forever; he'd taken those words to be the honest truth of what was in Jack's heart and mind, and had believed them with all of his hearts and soul.

The crushing weight of disappointment had nearly destroyed him when Jack had left, almost burying him under the weight of hopes and dreams that had died when his lover had turned his back and walked out of the Time Lord's life.

He hadn't been gone for good. The Doctor had known that; they would still be friends, at least as much as they could be. But their friendship would never be the same, not after they'd been lovers. That doubt and mistrust would always be there, coming between them.

The Time Lord had never thought that Jack would come back to him, confessing that he'd made a huge mistake by leaving. That was something he hadn't foreseen, and he'd been more shocked than he could put into words when it had happened.

Jack had been back in his life for a few weeks now, but things hadn't gone back to being exactly the way they were before the immortal had walked away. The Doctor didn't trust him in the same way, and he wasn't sure that he ever would again.

Once the Doctor had given his trust, it was hard to sway his belief in the person he'd given it to. But that trust had been shaken to the core when Jack had left him; it had felt like a betrayal of everything they had shared, everything they had meant to each other.

The Doctor scowled at the thought, wishing that he could simply put all of the time that he and Jack had been apart behind him and start fresh. The immortal was obviously more than willing to do that, so why couldn't he look at their lives in the same light?

The answer to that question was simple enough, he told himself. Jack hadn't been the one who had felt betrayed; he was the one who had made the decision to leave. It had all come about in the way that he had wanted it to; he had nothing to lose.

The Time Lord, on the other hand, had been the person on the losing end; he had been the one who was walked out on, the one who was betrayed by their lover. It was easy for Jack to want a fresh start; he hadn't suffered the pain of that betrayal.

He had wanted his freedom, and he had made sure that he would get what he wanted. Now, he'd decided that he wanted the Doctor back again -- but how long would that last? How long would it be before the immortal got restless and wanted his freedom back again?

In his experience, it probably wouldn't be all that long, the Doctor thought wryly. Jack always seemed to be on the lookout for someone to flirt with; he'd nipped that in the bud at the last bar they'd gone to, but it hadn't seemed to teach the other man a lesson.

It didn't matter to the Doctor that Jack claimed he wouldn't follow through on his flirting. It was bad enough that he did it at all, the Time Lord fumed, his scowl growing more ferocious. How could Jack expect to be trusted when he acted like that?

Of course, that was probably the immortal's way of putting his trust to the test, the Doctor admitted to himself with a sigh. It would be just like Jack to do that sort of thing; to try to prove to himself that his lover did trust him.

The problem was that he hadn't really let himself learn to trust Jack yet, the Doctor thought, sighing heavily and running a hand through his hair. Maybe he should, but after that last little exhibition, his level of trust for the immortal was running very low.

How could Jack expect to be trusted again, if he acted in such an irresponsible way? It might be his way of trying to build the Time Lord's trust, but it was backfiring badly. All it had achieved was to make the Doctor even more wary of trusting his lover completely.

Maybe he should simply ask Jack what he'd hoped to accomplish by that charade in the bar. But no, if he did, Jack would only revert to what he'd said before. That he hadn't planned on doing anything with that man, because he was in love with the Doctor.

That was hard to believe, given the way that Jack had been laughing with him, and the look in his eyes when he'd gazed at that young man, the Doctor thought, anger building within him again. There was no way that Jack would have turned down a sure thing.

But if he'd been honest in his words, if that flirtation had only been going on because he felt the need to flirt and not because he'd actually meant to follow through -- then maybe the Doctor needed to work on learning to trust his partner more.

The Time Lord considered that possibility, wishing that he could dismiss it but knowing that he shouldn't. Maybe Jack had changed his ways. Maybe he had only been indulging a desire to flirt, not to do anything more physical.

Still, he had to know just how much his flirting would wound the Doctor. He couldn't keep doing things like that every time they were around other men -- it didn't matter to the Doctor if it was in Jack's personality to flirt. That didn't make it hurt any less.

He shouldn't have to "get used to" his lover flirting with other men, acting as though he wasn't happy with the person he had. That would only diminish his self-worth, and he didn't want to struggle with that. There were too many other things on his mind.

If Jack expected him to merely take his flirting as a personality trait and live with it, then the two of them couldn't be together. He wasn't going to have his boyfriend acting as though he was free to be with other people, even if Jack didn't mean to follow through on the promise.

He would rather have them part now, after a few weeks of bliss, than keep feeling this way every time Jack decided that he wanted to act like a whore and ignore the Doctor's existence. He didn't want to wonder when his boyfriend would actually cheat on him.

So maybe Jack didn't intend to do that. To him, it probably seemed as though his flirting was harmless. But to the Doctor, it was anything but that. It was tearing them apart, building up a wall between them that he wasn't sure he wanted to scale.

He wanted a man in his life who he could give his hearts and soul to -- someone he knew he could trust to be faithful. He didn't want to have to learn to trust them over time. He wanted to know that the trust was there, that he could count on them.

If Jack couldn't adapt himself enough to be in a relationship where he was satisfied with the lover he had, then they didn't belong together. It hurt the Doctor to admit that, but he had to face the truth. Love always took time -- and so did trust.

Now it was time to confront Jack about how he felt -- to lay down an ultimatum, and see whether it was accepted or not. If Jack truly wanted to be with him, then he would stop the flirting. That was the only way he could stay in this relationship.

The Doctor sighed as he pushed himself away from the console, heading for the corridor that led to the library of the Tardis, the room where he'd left Jack. It would take time for him to learn to trust Jack again; and at this point, he wasn't sure that he could.

***