[for donna]

[more_flexible]

The winter was nice, but it was damn cold. Jack had come into the compound and sat before the roaring fire, flipping through a manual of tri-phasic morphing cells and their various applications. It would probably be either boring or incomprehensible to most people. For Jack it was pure nostalgia. Maybe, one day, he'd have an opportunity to actually use that sort of tech. Here? Not really gonna happen. Even if he had something, it'd only be worth playing with, and even then he'd have to do it in the TARDIS.

He shifted a little and looked up, catching sight of something far more interesting than tech. There was Donna...and her magnificent rack. Jack smiled and waved her over.

"Hey there, gorgeous," he said, flashing a friendly smile.

Comments

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"You don't know that for sure. You know that me, right? Maybe, eventually, you temp for, oh, Torchwood," he grinned, leaning in closer. "I'd take you on in a heartbeat," he purred.

[nobledonna.livejournal.com]

Speaking of heartbeats, she was expecting him to try to cop a feel any second now. Not that she didn't appreciate how smooth he was being, but Donna was nearly thirty-seven years old, smooth gets increasingly more difficult with age.

"I did temp for Torchwood, actually," she said sweetly. "Or rather, a Torchwood-owned company. That's where I met my ex-fiance."

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"I meant Torchwood Three," he said. "From what I understand, we don't have anything to do with Torchwood One in London."

[nobledonna.livejournal.com]

"Well, that's probably good," Donna said. "After all, they did have a giant spider empress living in their basement that my fiance tried to feed me to after slowly poisoning me for six months."

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

He figured he better not mention Lisa in the basement in Cardiff. Besides, if Jack in the future took in Donna, that would have been long done with.

"Six months, huh? That doesn't sound so...temp."

[nobledonna.livejournal.com]

"Well it wasn't a permanent job, but it was quite a good one. You know, until the spider thing. And I can't even be so angry at him, since that's how I met the Doctor."

She paused. "Actually, I take that back. I can be bloody angry. Not only did he try to feed me to a spider, but he called me an idiot."

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"He called you an idiot?" he asked, easing a fraction closer. "I can't imagine anyone saying that to you. You're fantastic."

[nobledonna.livejournal.com]

Donna snorted. "Please, you hardly know me."

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"I'm good with people. I'm rarely wrong," Jack replied. "Part of the charm of a Time Agent."

[nobledonna.livejournal.com]

"Oh, is that where your charm comes from?"

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

The corner of his mouth tugged higher and he dropped his chin. "Part of it. The rest is just natural talent."

[nobledonna.livejournal.com]

"I understood it came from genetic engineering," Donna said matter-of-factly. "Are you supposed to be the perfect specimen of a man, then?"

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"Hardly," he replied, his smile fading away as he looked at her a little more critically. "What do you know about me, Donna? In your travels...did you learn something? I mean, before Torchwood. I know all that stuff. Most of it, anyway..."

[nobledonna.livejournal.com]

Donna shrugged. "Just the vague information the Doctor gave me. Fifty-first century, used to be a time agent whatever that is, traveled with him and Rose for a while... He, uh, didn't like talking about Rose."

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"Oh, yeah...Rose is a touchy topic here, too," Jack relayed, dodging the things she knew of his past. She knew enough, and he wasn't going to give up any more. Not today, anyhow. "She was here for a while. He's had so many companions and a lot of them have turned up."

[nobledonna.livejournal.com]

"Ah, yes. I'm the last in a long line of unwelcome reminders, as I understand it," Donna said neutrally.

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"Not last. Just most recent," he said, leaning into her and tightening his hold. "Don't worry about it. There's more to life than the Doctor."

[nobledonna.livejournal.com]

"I suppose there has to be now," Donna said with a touch of sadness. "Does everyone come away feeling like that? At the end, like... he's given you the world and then taken it away?"

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"Ummm...yeah. Pretty much," Jack nodded. "It's hard to go back to a normal life after you've seen the universe. Unless you've already seen it. Then it's just hard to get left behind."

[nobledonna.livejournal.com]

"Or unless you forget it," Donna muttered.

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"Yeah," he agreed, toying with a lock of her hair. "But you remember now. It's got to better to know. Even if you don't want to. And even if you do." Something in his voice held a note of understanding beyond the simple platitude.

[nobledonna.livejournal.com]

"No, it's... definitely better." Without thinking, Donna leaned her head against his shoulder. "You must have thought I was completely daft when you first met me here."

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"Not really." Jack turned his head just enough to press his lips to her hair and breathed in the scent of her. It only took a moment for him to decide to admit, "I thought you were a victim of Torchwood."

[nobledonna.livejournal.com]

"You mean a victim of you?"

Donna tilted her head a little.

"Are you smelling my hair?"

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"I'm not him," Jack insisted as he pulled away. "Not yet, anyhow. I came here instead of Cardiff." He cleared his throat and smiled. "I might have been, yeah."