Jack clung back just as tightly to Martha, ostensibly to offer comfort, but drawing for himselfjust as much if not more. The past few years were a heavy, ugly weight that clenched tightly around his mind, and the simple pleasure of one of his oldest friends alive in his arms was unparalleled.

He didn't even know if Martha was alive, back in his subjective linear time. It was one of a million hideous thoughts he lived with daily, and one Jack pushed from his mind and kept from his face with the ease of long practice.

"If only every lovely, wonderful girl in the world was as happy to see me," he said with the fondest of chuckles. Jack held her for a moment more, before pulling back only to hold her gently at arm's length. He presses his forehead to hers, smiling sadly. "If I knew you'd been taken, I wouldn't have hesitated to tear the world down to find you."

And he was damn well going to do as such once he got home.