[for Dale]

[more_flexible]

Sunday morning dawned clear and hot. The temperature crept higher and finally Jack made his way to the beach. Everyone was so concerned, but he couldn't assure them he was okay, or that he'd be okay. He just knew Ace had helped, as had the Doctor and House, and now it was in his hands. He just had to come to terms with who he was and would be, and who he is here and now.

He sat on his favorite rock tossing pebbles and watching the ripples in the water be swallowed by the waves and thinking, although his thoughts were scattered and jumped from one problem to another at random. For every problem, he tossed another pebble.

He was pretty sure he'd run out of those before he ran out of problems.

Comments

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"No," he shrugged. "I've known for a while there were films of me before I came to the island. But just the last month or so I've found ones of my future," he explained.

[dale-cooper-fbi.livejournal.com]

"Ah," said Dale, catching the drift of the conversation. "I take it you discovered a few things, then."

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

Jack smirked, a dry laugh barking loose. "Yeah, you could say that. Three of those things are on the island now."

[dale-cooper-fbi.livejournal.com]

"Well," said Dale, "that sounds like a story I need to be hearing. Mind if I take a seat, Jack?"

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

He moved over a little. "Pull up some rock," he chuckled. "New residents. Gwen Cooper, Toshiko Sato, and Ianto Jones. Apparently in two thousand six I work for an organization called Torchwood and they're my team."

[dale-cooper-fbi.livejournal.com]

Dale nodded his head as he sat down; he'd seen their names cross his desk, though he hadn't know they had any prior relationship with Jack. "And you don't have any recollection of this organization prior to coming to the island?"

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"It's my future," he smiled. "Something about coming back through time through a rift. Nothing that's happened to me yet, thank goodness. I get killed like six times, I think...and that is a whole story in itself."

[dale-cooper-fbi.livejournal.com]

"That's five more times than most people," said Dale. "Sounds like a fairly significant story to me. So what, then, is the crux of your dilemma tonight?"

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

Another deep breath and another pebble shot out to the waves. "Tell me about being in love, Dale? With just one person?"

[dale-cooper-fbi.livejournal.com]

Dale let out a long, low whistle. "Now that is a tall order," he said, settling in for a hell of a conversation. "I hardly even know where to start, Jack. You know what it is to feel in love."

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"We've established that," he smirked. "How about instead of love, you tackle monogamy?"

[dale-cooper-fbi.livejournal.com]

"Well, I'm really not sure how to explain monogamy," said Dale. "How do you put into words that feeling of wholeness, Jack? How does a man say what it feels like to love someone completely?"

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

Jack sighed and tossed another rock. "Poets have tried. I'm just...okay. Hypothetically, if I told you I wanted to be with you and only you, and then said I expected you to do the same...after that hadn't been the way it worked...would you buy it?"

[dale-cooper-fbi.livejournal.com]

"Hypothetically speaking?" said Dale. "Well, I'd certainly want an explanation. That's not a decision that one person gets to make."

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, I know," he said. "But just saying...knowing me...nevermind."

[dale-cooper-fbi.livejournal.com]

"I know what you're saying, Jack, but without knowing anything about the situation in question, I'm finding it difficult to give you any sound advice. We both know this isn't about hypothetical scenarios."

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"I don't if the person would even believe me if I said I would stop fucking around, Dale," he sighed, tossing another pebble. "And I'm terrified to make the first move and have it not work. It'd be a first, you know?"

[dale-cooper-fbi.livejournal.com]

"Well, do you mean it?" Dale asked him. "Is that a step you're prepared to make, Jack? Because it's a big one."

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"I do," he replied quietly. "In fact, if I work up to asking and it doesn't pan out, I might just take a break from all of it. Love. Sex. People."

[dale-cooper-fbi.livejournal.com]

"Well, I can't tell you if it'll work or not," said Dale, certain he wasn't telling Jack anything he didn't already know. "Your situation is a complicated one and I'm not intimately familiar with all parties involved. But it's been my experience that it's always worth trying."

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"Even if it doesn't work?" he asked, looking over at Dale and resting his chin on his shoulder.

[dale-cooper-fbi.livejournal.com]

"Even then," said Dale. "Even then. Because that's just life, Jack: sometimes things work out the way you want them to, and sometimes they don't, but you'll never know which is which until you try."

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

Jack sighed softly and nodded. He knew Dale was right.

"Yeah. Okay," he said softly before squeezing Dale's hand and sliding off the rock. "Better now than later. I'll see you around, Dale. Thanks."

[dale-cooper-fbi.livejournal.com]

"Good luck, Jack," said Dale, giving him a wave as he started to go. No matter how you looked at it, it was a difficult situation, and Dale feared Jack was going to need all the luck he could give him.