The bar was a heap of contradictions; 20^th Century London, Earth, thousands of light years out in space; dark and smoky, full of bright orange neon; in a small space station where to imbibe alcohol was against federate laws, wall-to-wall cops and station crew drinking as though it was the last day of their lives.  The universe was filled with joints like this and the alien who called himself ‘Captain Jack Harkness’ was leaving a trail of diamonds across it for the Doctor to follow; from one bar on one planet in one solar system, to the next bar in the next solar system, to the next bar, and so on.  They were real too; quarter-inch ten carat stones mined on a small moon this side of Kurhan, stolen in a heist two years ago then lost to history and mystery until now.  Jack was spending them like they were half-talmars, running up bar bills before pretending to have lost his wallet and offering the barman one of the gems before he got beaten up and thrown out on his ass.  It didn’t seem to matter that however much he drank he never seemed to get drunk. 

The Doctor picked up a bar menu from the sticky surface and looked at the strange symbols written horizontally left to right.  “Does everything taste the same after a while?”

“I’ve been following you.”

The Doctor shook his head.  “Not this time, I think you need it.  Besides, there’s no point if you keep fixing it.”

“Saving the world costs more than people think.”  He watched Jack lift the glass to his lips.  “Can I ask... where did you get the Kurhan diamonds?”

The Doctor ignored that; even if Jack had only half-meant it to be rhetorical.  “You saved millions,” he offered, but he knew it wasn’t any kind of comfort. 

He rested a gentle hand on Jack’s shoulder.  “Touché.” 

Still at Jack’s side, the Doctor squeezed his shoulder gently.  “She’s a better woman than that.”

Out of no other need but to empathise, the Doctor leaned down and kissed Jack’s head, smelling stale smoke and coffee in his hair.  “All those children you saved, their parents would thank you.”

“I killed the one I should have saved.”  He heard tears in Jack’s voice and felt those residual feelings for the man like an ache in his stomach.  “Stephen trusted me.  Damn it, Ianto trusted me... loved me.”  Jack gulped down a mouthful of his drink and the sweet odour of it hit the Doctor full force.  “You know... he died in my arms, and I couldn’t even give him three words – three little words.”  He shook his head and finished the vile green liquid.  “I’m pathetic.”

Jack’s head bowed and for a minute or so he didn’t speak.  Eventually, he murmured, “I just need to keep moving.”

Jack laughed.  “Now you want me, Doc?  Now I’ve hit rock bottom – drinking every night even though I can’t get drunk, tearing my way across the galaxy in air-tight cargo holds, paying my way with stolen diamonds – now you want me?  You’ve pushed me away for years.  Why now?”

He shook his head.  “Everyone dies around me, Doc.  Not gonna take responsibility for anyone.”

Finally, Jack turned his head, looked up.  And the Doctor took a single step back.  Ianto Jones was standing beside him at the bar.  Real.  Alive.  Smiling.  There was a single moment, like time standing still.  Then Jack was on his feet, his lover’s name on his lips, arms reaching for the man who moved towards him like a magnet.  Jack apologising, Ianto hushing him, Jack saying, ‘love you,’ over and over as they clung to one another.  No one in the bar batted an eyelid, or any other part of their facial form.  The Doctor gave them time and in time they settled, Ianto sitting at the bar, Jack pulling his stool up behind him, wrapping his arms around Ianto’s waist like he couldn’t bear to let go, face wet with tears buried in his neck.  The Doctor sat too, perching on the edge of a third stool, and when Jack looked up, he saw him mouth the words, “Thank you”.

“You revived him.”  Jack stated, quietly assured.

“What?”  Ianto was nodding.

“But... I remember him dying....”

The Doctor shook his head.  “You won’t.  You’re so far away, you’re catching up but the more time you spend with him, give it a couple of days, you’ll forget.  You’ll remember him vanishing when you went to shout at the soldiers about hazmat suits and oxygen.  You’ll remember shooting at the Shilieonn’s – the 456’s - atmospheric container.  You’ll remember dying and waking alone, Gwen telling you they haven’t found Ianto’s body yet.  Because I went back and I took him.  I couldn’t do anything else.  It had already happened so I had to be careful not to change anything that would put at risk what you did to save the children.  I’m sorry, Jack, I couldn’t save Stephen.”

“I took Ianto out of time.  Like I said, it’s breaking every rule but I owed you.  You saved my life, you and Martha.  You saved... everything.”  He watched more tears gather in Jack’s eyes like he couldn’t stop them and thought maybe this was one of the best things he’d ever done.

Hearing him say it physically hurt and he saw Ianto squeeze Jack’s arms where his hands rested, not an accusing bone in his body; calm and content just to be here, further than he could ever have imagined being from home but in Jack’s arms... he was the happiest he’d been since the Doctor had grabbed him and in half a minute talked him into leaving because otherwise he was GOING TO DIE.  “You did what you had to do.  I was certain I could trust you to do that under any circumstances.”  He leaned forward.  “I’ve done worse things in my long life, Jack.  Remember how many lives you saved and take some time out.  Heal.  Mourn.  Show Ianto some of the finer sights in the galaxy.”  He stood, took a step and stopped.  “Come on, I’ll drop you both somewhere much, much nicer than this place.”

Jack’s answer was muffled.  “Yes.”

“Are you trying to say you don’t love me?”

“No.  Yes.  I’m saying it’s not something I would have told you normally.”

“Because it’s not something you want to hear, is it?  What was your answer?”

“Don’t?  Don’t what?  Don’t love you?  Don’t die?”