The Doctor's touch felt like dipping an aching burn into a soothing cool bath. A sting subsided and he let out a deep and shaking breath that the pain had disallowed him.

"No you wouldn't," Jack protested, shaking his head a little and gripping tighter onto the Doctor's hand, "you never would. You're a better person than me, Doctor. A much better person."

He closed his eyes for a moment to try and focus a little. The pain was pushed back, thanks to the Doctor, and though Jack knew it should be there, it was only a ghost of an ache that he felt.

He went on, rambling a little without meaning to, "I try and be a better person, I do. See that's what you do to people, Doctor; you make them want to be better. People see you and the things you do and they want to be worthy." If he were in control of his faculties a little better, he might have stopped himself there. But as it was, he didn't.

"But that's the thing, Doctor. Nobody ever will. I mean, I try and pretend what you do doesn't blow me away, but it does, it still does. You light up the universe just by being in it, Doctor. And the trouble is you don't even know it. You have no idea how important and special you are."