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"I miss the HUB. I miss some of the stuff that I lost," Jack teased, and he looked back to her as he lead her into the diner. It was quiet, and they were promptly seated in a booth that overlooked the East River.

Jack sat himself down, and the first thing he ordered was two cups of coffee. "Hey, I have a kitchen. I could try to make use of it." He's being a total brat about the idea of cooking. "I lived through a century without take-away, you would be surprised at what I can do."

Gwen was quiet as her eyes perused the menu. She missed the Hub. She missed Cardiff and how things used to be. She knew that it would never be that way again, but still, she missed it all the same. One thing she learned from Jack, though, was never to go back. The past was that, the past. You couldn't relive it and you couldn't change it.

Looking up at Jack, she raised an eyebrow. "Yes, I know you have a kitchen. And other than reheating takeaway, I don't think I have ever seen you use it," she teased. "I can cook too, thank you very much." She laughed, smiling gratefully at the waitress who brought them their coffee. "Oh Jack," she purred. "I'd love to see what you could do." She was fighting hard not to laugh.

Jack looked up from Gwen, and his fresh cup of coffee. He had smiled while he took a sip from the mug. He knew she was right, he never really used anything in the kitchen besides the fridge and the microwave for leftovers. "I think we could try it one day." He sounded serious about the idea, and he had missed those casual days with the team.

A game of basketball to decide who would pay for drinks, Owen trying to top Suzie's score in Space Invaders, and everyone acting like one big happy family. "Only if you can find the ingredients."

"Then it's settled. We will go home and cook. It will almost be domestic," she teased. Lifting her coffee mug, she tapped it against his, like a toast. "It doesn't have to be jaffa cakes. We can buy those, but let's cook something. It will be nice."

She nodded her head and looked down at the menu again. She doubted things ever would be like they used to be, but it would be nice to try.

Jack grunted at the word domestic, he never really liked the word. It even seemed silly to attach it to something important, like eating. "I'll let you pick what we can try to make, and I'll have the fire department on stand-by."

He looked down at the menu, and he looked at the bacon, egg, and sausage sandwich. When the waitress returned, Jack looked up with her with that bright smile on his face. He can't help himself, and of course he flirted with her. He laughed at the look on her face, when he mentioned something crude about squeezing her firm buns.

She took the order down in a hurry, and she looked at Gwen. "You need to keep this one on a leash!"

Gwen laughed, nodding in agreement with the waitress. "Good luck with that. I think this one would break it in a heartbeat." She ordered the same sandwich with a side order of fruit. Once the waitress was gone, she wagged a finger playfully at Jack.

"You. You are terrible. Incorrigible." She sighed, sipping her coffee. "We don't need the fire department on standby." She gave him a look. She saw his reaction to her word choice. She didn't mean it the way he thought that she did. She didn't want him like that. She just liked to watch him squirm.

"Break it? I never turned down a little S&M ladies, and the safe word is: bananas," Jack was on a roll tonight, and he delighted in the attention he was getting from the waitress that looked like lived there 24/7. He did plan on leaving her a gracious tip at the end of the night.

He went back to his coffee, the devilish smile still rested on his face. "Are you sure?" Jack tilted his head off to the side, and he finally admits. "Ianto normally would ban me from the kitchen in his flat."

Gwen watched as the waitress was behind the counter, trying to look busy as she stared at Jack. Shaking her head, she took another sip of her coffee. "Bananas?" He snorted, trying not to laugh and failing. "Why bananas?"

"I don't blame him. I'd ban you too." She giggled, leaning across the table. "Things are different now, though. I'll take care of you. I can cook. It's the least I can do, boss."

As the waitress approached with their food, Gwen noted she was blushing. Gwen only hoped she didn't drop the plates.

"Why not?" Jack asked about the bananas, and his face looked rather serious when she asked him about the safe word. He can't keep it for long, and he started to blush. "Peaches maybe?"

The waitress was quick with getting their order, and she placed it on the table before Jack could act up again. Jack didn't know what to say about Gwen's offer to take care of him.

It took him awhile to get two simple words out of his mouth. "Thank you." He never protested Ianto wanting to care for him, and he rather enjoyed having someone doing those things he 'forgot'.

He looked down at the biscuit sandwich. "I hope she didn't spit in it."

"Jack... I doubt she spit in it." Gwen shook her head and dug in, grabbing a strawberry with her fork. "Peaches might work. You just like bananas because they're phallic," she teased.

Gwen's smile softened and she lowered her voice. "You're welcome." Reaching across the table, Gwen took one of Jack's hands, threading their fingers together. "That's what friends do, you know..."

"You should of seen the look on her face, I bet she was dying to spit in mine," Jack said, continuing to be a brat about the whole ordeal. "I like both fruits equally." He teased right back, and he scooped up a bunch of breakfast fries with his fork.

He looked at her small hand in his, and squeezed it. The smile on his face spoke a thousand words for him.

Steve chuckled. He had heard that from many a man before. "Well, I am sure that won't actually be necessary. This is a coffee shop after all. What can I get you?"

"Just a regular coffee would be fine, Captain,"" Jack said, never turning down a cup of coffee when it's being offered to him by an attractive man.

He looked over surprised that the man knew his rank. "You don't have to call me Captain, sir. I'm technically no longer in the service." He turned to get the requested beverage. "Not decaff I assume."

He knew the face, and it was a bit of joke or an attempt to flirt. "I was right?" Jack laughed, and he reached into his coat for his wallet. "Just a regular coffee, no decaf, no sugar or.." He waggled his eyebrows. "Cream."

Oh so he hadn't known. Steve poured the coffee into the cup and paused to look at Jack as he flirted. Just one more strange thing in this new day and age. Men openly hitting on other men. "There you go sir." And if he handed it to Jack so his wedding ring was showing, well, that was just a quiet, nice and polite way of hinting he wasn't interested.

"It's not about the size of the weapon, it's about how you use it," Jack said grimly, and Jack barely had time to think. He acted, as he dove in the direction of the arrow as it was fired.

It would not be some an innocent by standard that would die tonight, it would be Jack as the arrow found itself lodged between his temple. He just stood there for a second. And, eventually he dropped to the cold wet ground with a solid thud.

Dead.

Jack remained there with a fixed gaze at the tire of a parked sedan. The arrow had remained stuck where it had landed. Jack had known he did what was always required of him. He had selflessly sacrificed himself for someone else.

Edited 2013-01-22 17:07 (UTC)

Jack took the take-away cup in his hand, and he looked at the wedding ring. He gave Steve a wink and a nod. "Gottcha." He took the money from his wallet and he handed it over to Steve.

He stood there took in the coffee shop. "The place looks good. I have to say, I'm impressed."

The Black Arrow lowers his hood and looks down at his older self his eyes lacking the emotion that allowed the body on the ground to make such a stupid move. He leans down and pulls the arrow out with a sucking sound.

"Waste not want not," he comments to Jack, "but I think you know that." He shakes his head again. "What are you going to do when you learn that you are facing your worst nightmare......yourself."

He puts the hood back up. "After all who knows you better."

"Well, maybe if you didn't mess with people, then they wouldn't want to spit in your food." She shook her head. "I like peaches better." She snorted and took another sip of her coffee. "Bananas just are never shaped right," she teased.

Gwen didn't pull her hand away. She could eat with one hand. Only when Jack let go would she pull her hand back. She didn't need to hear anything that he might say. Yes, she saw it all in his eyes.

Steve nodded and gave a small thank you as he rung up the order and gave Jack his change back.

"I will let Mr. Jones know. This is his establishment. I only work here."

"I think I could argue that."

From out of the shadows, a woman appears. There is no smile on her face. In fact, she is very far from smiling at all. Dressed all in black and red, she has a dark glare in her eyes. Whatever she saw, it had pissed her off. The clack of her boots against the pavement can be heard as she steps toward them.

"If anyone could know better, I'd be in the running at least," she growled. She wants to move over to Jack, but she's not sure about the man with the arrows either.

Her hands are itchy. She really wants to pull her gun, but she doesn't. All she really knows is she doesn't because others wouldn't like it if she killed someone.

Jack remained on the ground long after Black Arrow removed the arrow from his head, the wound slowly began to knit itself back up. Jack did not plan to open his eyes until he felt safe.

He had to get himself into trouble. He had to get himself killed. It almost felt normal to Jack, as he laid down on the cold pavement without any movement.

He just hoped that he didn't cause any upset, and he hoped Gwen would not have seen him like this. He didn't like to upset his friends or make them worry.

"I was trying to make her night different from every other night," Jack laughed, and he took a bite out of his sandwich. "There's nothing wrong with liking peaches." He knew exactly what she meant, or Jack once again twisted something sexual.

He left his hand there on the counter, he wouldn't stop Gwen from holding onto his hand again. "We should do this more often."

Jack placed the change into the tip jar, and he took the cup of coffee in his hand. "I'm not sure which Mr. Jones is the one responsible for this fine establishment." He took a drink of his coffee. "It doesn't matter, I think they are going to do a fine business."

He holds out his other hand. "Captain Jack Harkness. I don't think we have been introduced to one another."