[two years]

[more_flexible]

Two years. He was two years old. Sure, he was a lot older than that, but dying and coming back to life sort of threw a wrench into things. He wasn't certain how old he really was. Maybe...thirty one? A non-linear life spent trying not to die in some random era or on some alien world sort of made aging the least a person's worries.

But he'd been here two years. On this island, no way to leave. So much of who he had been had slipped away and he knew about the man he would become. Immortal. A leader. A man with a mission. A fixed point in Time and Space. He certainly wasn't any of that here. Here he was...shit, he didn't even know what he was. Just a guy. Just a guy trying to do the right thing, and succeeding some of the time.

Last year there had been a party. This year, most of the people he had known were gone. This year, Jack grabbed a bottle of the most caustic poison the Hub had on the shelf and he wandered down to the beach. He hadn't said much to anyone, just told House he would be back later. By the time he'd gotten to the big, flat rock that looked out over the ocean, he was drunk. Not terribly drunk. Just drunk enough that he could pretend that two years of his life hadn't been stolen from him. Just drunk enough to pretend he'd been granted two years to replace them.

Jack raised the bottle to the ocean, the island, and the sunset. "Happy birthday to me," he said dryly, then tipped the bottle back and drank until he choked.

Comments

[toshiko-san.livejournal.com]

"Alright," Tosh stood, holding a hand out for him. It was good enough, she suspected he was drunk enough she might be able to have him pass out in her hut. 'of course you can walk me home."

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"Means I have to walk, huh?" he grinned, then tried to get up. He made it to his knees, and as he rose from there, he grasped the bottle to bring it along.

"Y'know, Tosh...you're a helluva woman."