Who: Jack Harkness (Whoniverse), 10th Doctor (Whoniverse) [Rose welcome if she wants to drop in!] What: Jack has questions. Where: The Doctor and Rose's room. When: Late night, July 10th Ratings/Warnings: TBD, probably low Status: Ongoing
It took a few questions and some knocked-on doors before Jack found his way to the fifth floor of the first tower and room 504. He'd been assured by someone he didn't know that there was a pretty British blonde called Rose in the room, and someone they'd heard called Dr. Something along with her.
Ianto had seen them already. Not in this strange little shoebox of a town, but in his own time, back at Torchwood Jack gathered. Which meant that Jack would probably have seen them again, but it had been so long. A century and change gone by since Satellite 5 and there was no telling how much time had passed for Rose or the Doctor. Maybe it had been barely a few days. It just didn't actually matter, not for Jack. Time might not be linear, it might change and fluctuate, but it was already past for Jack. It was set. He already knew he'd be left behind for years to barely age, never die. He knew something had changed, but he didn't know what or how. He'd spent so long waiting for the Doctor, and at the same time he'd never quite stopped being angry that he'd been left in the first place.
He'd had time. A lot of time. That much time passed and he couldn't help but get used to the idea, make a sort of peace with it. But Jack didn't understand it. The Doctor had saved him before. He and Rose had come back to get Jack and not let him die. Why hadn't they again? What had happened? Had something gotten in the way, or had he just been collateral damage they'd had to write off? Maybe the Doctor could fix him, switch off whatever it was that kept him alive so the next time Jack took a bullet to the head he wouldn't get up again. But even if he couldn't, Jack just wanted answers. He wanted to know why he'd been left, and why he was what he was. Even now when he was out of place and stuck somewhere he didn't understand alongside people who shouldn't exist, Jack couldn't care about that problem more than the answer to those two questions.
It'd been over a century. Even if he would see the Doctor again back in his own time, he didn't want to wait longer, not if he didn't have to. He was here anyway, he was damned well going to take advantage of it.
He knocked at the door, rocking on the balls of his feet as he waited with poorly disguised impatience.
When the door finally swung open though, it wasn't Rose, and it wasn't the Doctor. Just some stranger. Jack deflated a little and took a second to manage a smile. "Sorry, wrong room, I was looking for someone," he said. The guy was good looking enough, and Jack would have managed a hello, if he wasn't so disappointed. Ianto had said they were here, and no one had been able to leave yet. It had to just be the wrong room, he told himself.
Then again, it was the Doctor. If anyone could sort out a way to pick up and leave when no one else had, it would be him.