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“Where are they with those coffees” he signed and kept on walking away from explaining why he had opened the rift.
Then he saw it, the hand acting up, bubbling away. And he heard it too, the TARDIS. Just barely. But he knew she, the TARDIS was there in Cardiff. He tapped his wrist with his fingers, in the sign for Doctor and grinned. Then he grabbed his bag and ran.
“Doctor!”
“Captain Jack Harkness, and who are you?” he said, verbally, not in sign. He was worried since he hadn't spoken verbally in a long time, with everyone at Torchwood, he tended to just sign.
“Martha Jones.” The cutie said.
“Nice to meet you, Martha Jones.”
“Oh, don’t ——-!” The Doctor said looking away, which meant Jack couldn't read what he was saying. But Jack understood the message, just like in the old days, the Doctor being possessive and not wanting him to flirt with anyone else.
“I was just saying hello!” he protested.
He stood up. “Doctor.”
“Captain.”
“Good to see you. Same as ever. Though have you had some work done?”
“You're one to talk”
“Oh yes, the face, new regeneration!”
So, some of the myths about Gallifrey, Jack had heard growing up were true.
“That's what I said!” the Doctor said to Chantho.
“You're supposed to say sorry,” Jack told him. Which the Doctor still had yet to do to him.
He had waited for 138 years for the Doctor, more than a hundred of which he had been deaf, he had come up with a list of 138 ways to ask the Doctor “why”, verbally and in sign.
But he still hadn't asked any of those questions, verbally or not verbally.
On the way down to the engine room, he’s signing to himself. Questions about why the Doctor abandoned him, trying to figure out the best way to ask.
“What are you doing?” The Doctor asked gesturing towards Jack’s hands.
“Thinking out loud.”
Then again a few minutes later, “—— —- —- ——-“ He can tell with his hearing aid that the Doctor is saying something but he doesn’t know what. Could be the Doctor telling him why he abandoned him or that he still loves Jack. He grins.
He turns around. “What did you say, Doctor?”
And Jack’s grin fades, as he figures it out, all the Doctor was saying was, “What are you taking your clothes off for?”
“I'm going in!”
“The radiation doesn't affect clothes only flesh. “
Jack started to go in but turned around. “How long have you known?”
The Doctor looked distracted like he was thinking about something else but he looked up at him and said “Ever since I ran away from you.”
Oh. Fuck you Doctor. You're a coward.
“I'm the man who can never die. All that time, you knew.”
Sometimes Jack cared about if his voice was too loud but right now he didn't care about the volume.
“It's not easy just looking at you. It’s why I left you behind, you're wrong. “
“Thanks,” Jack said trying for sarcasm.
“Time Lord instincts. You're a fixed point in time.”
It's dark and they're hiding from Saxon. Martha’s gone to get food. And the Doctor was on some rant about ‘the evils of Torchwood’. Jack couldn't tell much of what he was saying.
115 years of practice at lipreading and it's still hard in the dark.
“Doctor. I’m Deaf.”
The Doctor stopped talking, blinked his eyes, and frowned.
“Sorry, how- Earlier was just like normal,” Jack raised an eyebrow. Just like normal? Rose was gone, the Doctor had been both more possessive and the rudest he had ever been. “Er- how were you able to”
Jack laughed. The Doctor was never able to admit he didn't know something or was confused.
“Doctor, I can lipread.”
“You sign too though?” The Doctor said.
“Yes”
“Did Rose do this to you too?” The Doctor said, but his hands were signing “hello, goodbye, run, yes, no, nice to meet you”
No, unless you count that being deaf was ‘caused’ by a few of his deaths.
“Who taught you sign?”
“Tegan... An old friend, from long ago before you and Rose... Don't know much though.”
“Do you want me to teach you some signs?” Jack asked.
The Doctor smiled and was about to say something else, but then Martha came back with some fish and chips.
After Martha fell asleep, Jack asked “Should I leave?”
“——?” The Doctor said tired, not looking at Jack.
“I’m wrong, a fact of time, you said. I hurt you, should I leave?”
The Doctor turned towards Jack and signed “no”. “It’s hard to explain. “
“Try me.”
“The best way to explain it is like a headache, it’s hard just looking at you, I’m getting used to it. “
“So, I’m just a headache to you?”
“No. You are a best friend of mine, you are the most flirtatious guy I know” he said with an eye roll. “You work for Torchwood of all places, and you are a fixed point in time, yes. But I’m getting used to that.”
Jack moved closer to the Doctor and soon they were both cuddling.
Enjoying one of their last few hours together before The Master.