OTA

[logan_echolls]

His knuckles connected with skin, and for the first time in days, Logan felt alive.

He honestly couldn't remember what the fight had started over, but it had begun in a bar and spilled out onto the street in a matter of moments. He wasn't winning, Logan was sure of that, but he honestly didn't care. Even as he crashed to the pavement and the other man's boot made contact with his gut, Logan only laughed through the pain.

His lip was bleeding, and his cheek was already bruised- Still, the fight wasn't slowing down at all, and likely wouldn't end until someone stepped in- Or one of them stopped breathing.

Comments

[im_torchwood]

Jack chuckled at that. The seeping blood on his lip had stopped and the swelling was already fading.

"Sure you did," he said. "Whatever...it's over now. Why don't we go to the all night drug store and get you something for those knuckles."

[logan_echolls]

It was on the tip of his tongue to tell the guy to fuck off, but the familiarity of the stranger nagged at him- Logan didn't want to be fussed, but his curiosity wouldn't let him simply brush the guy off.

"You a medic or something?" he asked flatly.

[im_torchwood]

"No, just a concerned citizen," he said. His American accent stood out, marking him as unique on the London streets. There were dozens of accents through the city but nothing like his.

"You kind of got the short end of the stick in that fight. What was it over?"

[logan_echolls]

"I might have implied that his existence blossomed from a relationship his mother had with a pig," Logan replied, his own Californian drawl a sharp contrast to the local dialect.

[im_torchwood]

"Might have, huh?" Jack asked, chuckling even as he was struck with the strangest sense of deja vu. Which was something that simply didn't happen to him.

"Captain Jack Harkness," he said then, offering his hand.

[logan_echolls]

Logan looked at the offered hand, then shrugged before accepting it.

"Logan," he replied simply, not offering his last name. Though as he shook the man's hand he was struck again by that nagging feeling in his gut. That confidence, that smile... It was so familiar, and yet Logan would swear he'd never met this man in his life.

[im_torchwood]

"Logan," he repeated. It felt right. Just saying it...made him smile.

"Come on. Let's go patch you up."

[logan_echolls]

The younger man hesitated a beat, though he didn't let it show.

"Yeah, sure, okay. ...So, like, what are you captain of? You a cop? You don't really look like a cop."

[im_torchwood]

"Air Force," he said. "Though I'm retired from that."

It wasn't the truth but it wasn't a lie either which was why Jack could say it so fluidly, so perfectly that there was no chance of questioning him.

[logan_echolls]

"Right, but you still like to toss the title around," Logan snorted, rolling his eyes a bit, and trying not to limp as they started to walk.

"So what do you do now?"

[im_torchwood]

"I'm a consultant in the private sector," he lied. Nice, boring. No one cared what you did, anyway.

"What about you? What brings an American your age to London? Let me guess...school?"

[logan_echolls]

"And criminal charges- Though not against me for once," Logan replied, speaking with the casual ease o someone who was slowly numbing to the world around them.

"Don't know how long I'll get to stay though- My grades weren't exactly great last term."

[im_torchwood]

"What university are you going to?" Jack asked, leading the way to the corner where there was an all night drug store.

[logan_echolls]

"Kings," Logan replied, sounding bored by the name along. "I don't even know what I want to study, to be honest."

[im_torchwood]

"Then why come here? Criminal charges bad enough to drive you out of North America?" he asked curiously.

[logan_echolls]

"My dad's going on trial for murder soon- So yeah, pretty bad," Logan replied.

[im_torchwood]

Logan. Dad. Trial. The deja vu made his skin crawl.

"Huh. I'll be damned," Jack said. The he reached the door and held it open. "That's a good reason to get out of Dodge."

[logan_echolls]

"Yeah, no kidding," Logan replied, heading inside and doing his best not to draw any attention to himself as he started to wander the isles.

"Not to be weird or whatever, but have we met before?" he asked finally, tired of pretending he didn't feel a strange pull towards the other man.

[im_torchwood]

"You know...I was going to ask you the same thing. But if we've met I can't think of where it would be," Jack replied. "But I recognize you. Have you ever been to Cardiff?"

[logan_echolls]

"Uh- No, not that I know of. You ever been to Neptune in California?" he asked in return.

[im_torchwood]

Jack shook his head even as the name Neptune tickled something in the back of his mind. But he couldn't place it, couldn't stick it down, and a moment later it was gone.

"I haven't been to California in years."

[logan_echolls]

"Weird," Logan replied, his gaze lingering on Jack just a moment too long, then flickering away.

"Must be remembering someone else I guess."

[im_torchwood]

"But it's weird, don't you think? This...it's not deja vu. I don't know what it is," he said, shaking his head.

[logan_echolls]

"Like remembering things that happened to someone else," Logan said- Because that's what the dreams had been like. Dreams that he was sure featured this man.

[im_torchwood]

"Yeah, exactly that," he agreed softly. Jack lead the way to the antiseptics and gauze so he could clean Logan's wounds.

His own split lip was already healed completely.