AN: Why hello again! I know it seems like forever since I updated last. I've been working on this for a while and it rewrote itself a couple of times. I'm updating the Polyvore as soon as this is posted so you can go check it out.

Um…what else… oh yeah. All the information in the chapter about certain sensitive topics are researched to the best of my ability and I apologize if there are any discrepancies as the internet gives conflicting results sometimes.

Without further ado.

Chapter Three: Happily Never After

The next morning Rebecca awoke, wrapped in a sheet with an arm draped across her waist. She panicked for a moment, worrying what kind of predicament she had gotten herself into before the memories of the night before began to flood back to her. She slowly rolled over and saw a peacefully sleeping Jack with his face in her hair. She tried to untangle herself from him but he pulled her in closer, causing her to giggle and him to wake up.

"I could get used to waking up like this." He said pressing a soft kiss to her lips.

"I certainly wouldn't complain," she said sitting up. "Unfortunately, we have to go. We have work to do."

"Why? They can survive without me." Jack whined grabbing her waist and pulling her back to bed.

"I have to finish my notes today. I head back tonight. Kate will kill me if I'm not back in the office tomorrow. Malcolm is probably driving her spare."

"Who cares about them? You're all mine."

"Just for this moment. I have to go back to reality. I can't live in this dream life all the time."

"You don't think this can be your reality?"

"I know this is real and I'm so excited to have you here with me but…nothing gold can stay." He grabbed her hand and she wouldn't look at him.

"Rebecca look at me. We have a second chance…We can make this last. I know that this isn't the ideal love but…I love you and I'm not letting you go."

"I love you too… Never stopped." She told him. "Now…I'm gonna take a shower. Want me to meet you back at the Hub?"

"What if we share a shower? Conserve water?" he suggested with a wicked grin.

"You have no clean clothes and I know you. We'll waste more."

"Too practical for your own good. You're no fun," Jack pouted. "But you're right. I'll meet you back at the hub with breakfast and some of Ianto's coffee."

"Sounds perfect." She kissed him quickly before stealing the sheet and wrapping it around herself before walking to the bathroom to shower looking at herself in the mirror noticing a bruise on her neck.

"Jack," she rolled her eyes before sticking her head out the bathroom door. "How do you expect anyone to take me seriously with this monstrosity on my neck?"

"I like it. Shows that you're mine."

"I think your coworkers already gathered that by now."

"Wear a scarf or show the world. I'm not ashamed to show the world the beautiful woman who inspires me and how she makes me feel."

"You're not the one with a hickey on your neck."

"If you give me one, I'm not going to complain. I'm sure I'd rather enjoy it."

"You're incorrigible."

"But you love it." He teased.

"Yeah, yeah. I'll see you in a bit." Rebecca shut the door on him, hearing him laugh before she dropped her sheet and stepped into the steamy spray.

She soon emerged drying herself with a fluffy towel and dressed herself for the day, including a scarf, applying her makeup, and slipping her shoes on before soon taking her Mini over to the hub, letting herself in.

"Good morning Rebecca," Ianto greeted handing her a mug as soon as she walked in. "French Vanilla cappuccino."

"Good Morning Ianto. Thank you so much… and listen I'm sorry about last night."

"No, I completely understand. He's the one you lost?"

"Among others." Rebecca said. "Still I feel bad."

"Don't, both of you deserve happiness. I'm glad you found it."

"Thank you." She said.

"Jack rushed down to his office a few minutes ago and told me to be ready with your coffee. He told me to send you to him when you got here."

"Thank you Ianto. See you in a bit." She dropped her things at the desk Tosh had shown her the day before and knocked on the door to Jack's office only to find him with a wide spread of breakfast pastries spread out across his desk.

"You do realize that you don't need to feed her majesties royal air force and that it's just me here, right?"

"I didn't know what you were in the mood for. Besides, the team can eat too. Gwen bring stuff home for Rhys. Owen can bring food back to his bachelor pad and have more in his fridge than beer now and Tosh can… Tosh can just enjoy a pastry."

"Alright then. Good morning." She told him kissing him before grabbing a blueberry muffin and Jack pulled her down into his lap.

"It is a very good morning." Rebecca rolled her eyes but smile regardless. She enjoyed her muffin while listening to Jack talk about his plans for the day, explaining the fact that he rarely ever followed the schedule he had in his head due to calls throughout the day from the police, and sightings that Ianto saw online.

"And I just sit in a lab all day identifying technology and reverse engineering."

"It doesn't sound like it has anything to do with what you're going to school for."

"Well archaeology is all about discovering the use of items used by people from long ago. Looking at the materials of aliens and discovering their use isn't much different. I do a lot of cataloging based on what I know and figuring out the uses of certain objects. I can't necessarily be certain with my findings but there is a certain degree of accuracy to it."

"Look at you… being all sciency."

"You love it when I talk nerdy to you." Rebecca laughed.

"Indeed I do."

"Speaking of which, I do need to get back to work. I have to finish the work on Tosh's notes before lunch preferably. I should leave so I can get back to Oxford at a decent time. I have to report my findings at 9am tomorrow."

"So soon?"

"I know. But I have to go grocery shopping and write my report and get ahead on my readings for next semester. It starts in two weeks."

"We'll make it work. I'm not gonna worry about it now." Jack said raising his hands in defeat.

"Alright. I'll see you at lunch?"

"Sooner, you know me. Won't be able to stay away." Rebecca gave him one last kiss before heading back toward Tosh's desk to start working.

"Rebecca, you haven't taken off your scarf. Are you cold? I can turn the heat up if you like." Ianto said once he spotted her.

"No, I'm comfortable… Just a fashion accessory." She said shiftily.

"Are you sure?" he asked.

"Positive. Please help yourself to breakfast in Jack's office. He bought enough to feed a small country."

"Yes ma'am."

"It's Rebecca… no ma'am because I'm Jacks girlfriend or anything like that. Just a normal person."

"Yes ma- Rebecca."

"Better. Is Tosh in yet?"

"Yes! I'm here!" Tosh announced coming down the stairs with her things.

"Wonderful. Jack bought everyone breakfast. There are pastries in his office so please help yourself and then we can get to work."

"Perfect." Within five minutes Tosh returned with a croissant and a cinnamon bun and the two women got to work. Only interrupted a few times by Jack being nosy, a few tired good mornings from Owen and Gwen as well as a call that the others went out to.

"Finished-" Rebecca announced a few hours later.

"Brilliant. I hope you can get it working better than I did. Granted I was working under a lot of pressure."

"I promise to do my best with it."

"You finished doll?" Jack called out.

"Yes! I was gonna get lunch and then hit the road. The mini has all my stuff in it."

"Great, let's go get some lunch then." Rebecca grabbed her coat and the two found themselves at a café avoiding talking about what would happen next. Once the two were finished, Jack walked Rebecca to her car.

"So I guess this is goodbye." She said, looking awkwardly at the ground.

"It's a see you soon. Goodbye's imply permanence."

"Well then I'll see you soon. We'll go out and have fun."

"That is a promise." Jack pulled her closer to him and kissed her hard, leaving her momentarily breathless.

"One more for the road?" she asked.

"Definitely." He said kissing her once more and when their lips parted, Rebecca sighed.

"You're making it very hard to go."

"Then don't go. You can stay here forever if you want."

"Work. School. Responsibility. Sucks I know." Rebecca pouted. "But what if I come back up next weekend."

"I'll come see you this week first." He promised her. "Now please drive safely. Call me when you get to your place."

"Yes sir," she said with a mock salute. He smiled at her and hugged her one last time before opening the car door for her.

"I love you." She told him once inside, rolling down the window.

"I love you too. I'll talk to you later." He hit the top of her car and she began to slowly drive away. She glanced back at Jack waving in her rearview mirror but continued to drive back to Oxford.

Nearly two hours later she arrived safe in Oxford and called Jack alerting him of her safe arrival before going grocery shopping and creating her report for Kate. She unwound that night with a glass of wine and a book, happier than she had been in a while.

The next morning she arrived at work with a bit more pep in her step, and was explaining what she had learned with Tosh and her course of action to Kate when she was interrupted by a knock on the door.

"I have a delivery here for a Rebecca Goodman. I was told I could find her here." The delivery man said. Rebecca quickly went over to the door and discovered that he was holding a beautiful bouquet of roses, forget-me-nots, and a few other flowers she couldn't specifically name.

"I'm Rebecca. Do I need to sign for these?"

"No, I was just instructed to make sure they got to you. The man on the phone was very intimidating."

"Well thank you." She took the bouquet from him and turned around to set them on the desk only to see Kate looking at her brow raised.

"Well who are those from?"

"To Rebecca, It's been less than a day and I miss you already. Love Always." She smiled and bent down and sniffed them. "They're wonderful. I'll have to call him and thank him later."

"Love always? You didn't have anyone last time I checked."

"Old relationship rekindled. Never stopped loving him. We were just separated… by time and space. Ran into him in Cardiff and we reconnected."

"Well I'm happy for you. You look very happy."

"I am. Kate. I really am." She called Jack on her lunch break and thanked him very much and chatted with him about her night and his plans to come visit that weekend and she soon returned to work.

She got home from work only to discover a larger more ornate bouquet from Jack sitting outside her flat. She immediately called him.

"Why is there a second, even larger more ornate bouquet of flowers sitting at my flat?"

"Because you should be able to appreciate flowers both at work and at home?" he questioned.

"Jack, I love you. You don't have to buy me obscene amounts of flowers to prove it. Once in a while is fine but I don't need to have a whole entire botanical garden in my office."

"What? I can't spoil my girl?"

"You really don't need to. You know me. I'm not one of those girls."

"But you deserve the world. The universe really."

"Don't remind me." Suddenly there was a knock at the door. "Jack, someone's knocking at the door, I swear to god if there is another bouquet of flowers…"

"This one has nothing to do with me. I promise."

"Alright. I love you. I'll talk to you soon."

"Love you too babe." She hung up and answered the door to find River with a bottle of wine, a bag from her favorite Italian place and a tote bag.

"I come bearing gifts and hoping for Gossip!" she announced.

"Well come in then! We have much to discuss." River came in the door and set her things down while Rebecca grabbed wine glasses.

The two relaxed on Rebecca's couch with the wine and takeout, gossiping about Jack, as well as River's husband, John.

"You never mentioned John before?"

"Well I really shouldn't be, after all you wind up introducing us. I just created an ontological paradox and I don't really care." Rebecca laughed.

"Must be the wine and good food."

"And anthropology text books. UNIT had them sent for so you could study in your extra time off. Always looking out for your 'well-being.'"

"I know Kate is. She asked me if I needed more time off for finals and randomly throws me days off."

"Because you don't have a day off. You have 5 days of work, a day of school work and a day of classes. It's miraculous your human self hasn't burnt itself out."

"I find classes relaxing."

"But there's more to life than classes and learning. You're gonna need time for Jack and time for buying sexy underwear to wear when with Jack. When half the stores are closed by the time you get back from work and you work every day…"

"This is why they invented online shopping River."

"Okay… I can't argue with that even though I'm fairly sure online shopping started as a way to discreetly buy adult toys."

"River!" Rebecca said gasping.

"What? I know you're no prude. So hush. Come on let's buy you some lingerie."

The two giggled over some of the ridiculous sets they spotted on line and discussed some plans.

A few days later Jack visited and the two didn't see the light of day for the forty eight hours he was there, they spent it wrapped up in each other, Rebecca sketching him and using him as a model. She played piano for him and he cooked for her. When he left, Rebecca felt like her place was so empty.

The next few weeks flew by and suddenly she was back in her classes, running around like crazy trying to write papers, do her work, and balance her life with Jack. She was stressed out but she had rarely been that happy in her life.

Valentine's Day quickly approached them and Rebecca had been stumped over what to get Jack. The man had lived over a hundred years and had a bank account that easily afforded him that Aston Martin he loved. She was packing up her art supplies after a sketching session when she happened upon her old camera and started looking through the pictures.

She had never uploaded her pictures from her camera to her computer or had them developed. It had been sitting there untouched for months until that moment and she decided to gaze at the memories of days gone bye.

She sat down on the couch and found herself between laughing and crying half the time looking at all the good memories she had with her best friends and Jack, their first trip together to see the Beatles, when they visited the British museum, Woman wept, her eighteenth birthday in Paris, their trip to Cardiff and even a few of Tokyo.

She quickly grabbed her car keys and headed to the local craft store where she picked up a blank leather bound photo album and had it embossed with the words "The Story of Us" on the cover.

She printed out the pictures and put them in the book in the printed pages and wrapped it up. She only hoped he would like it.

Valentine's Day Rebecca headed to work like usual except with a second outfit in her car for that night to wear. She was greeted by another bouquet of flowers on her desk. Roses this time.

"He is too much." she said with a smile, sniffing them before returning to work on the sonic modulator and on some technology that had been uncovered.

A call came around lunch. "Agent Goodman." She answered as she filled out paperwork and continued her examination of an artifact.

"Agent? Ooh sounds sexy. I'm gonna call you that now. Agent Sexy."

"Jack." She smiled. "I got your flowers. They're beautiful. Can't wait to see you tonight."

"Me either. So I got us a hotel room at this place near the restaurant. Ianto's emailing you the details. Just pick up a key at the front desk. It's under Harkness and then you can get ready there rather than getting ready in your office. I'll meet you when you're ready for a pre-dinner drink and then we have dinner reservations at six."

"What time do you think I get out of work Jack? I only get out at 5."

"Check your email." Rebecca sighed but grabbed her PDA and saw an email announcing early closing.

"How did you manage to do that?"

"An anonymous tip was made about cockroaches on the third floor."

"The third floor is the training facility for soldiers. They can't eat there. There shouldn't be cockroaches."

"Yes but despite the fact they're military they hate bugs. So I'll see you later tonight?"

"Yes, you will. So If I get out at three... takes me say half an hour to get to the hotel and say half an hour to get ready, I can meet you for our drink."

"I'll come meet you in the room."

"Okay. I love you. Happy Valentine's Day."

"Happy Valentine's Day Rebecca. Love you too." The phone clicked and something clattered from behind Rebecca and she turned to find Kate with a clipboard on the floor.

"Sorry, didn't realize you were on a personal call."

"No I shouldn't have been. This is work."

"I take personal calls all the time and you get your work done. It's fine. I don't mind Rebecca. I was just coming to remind you of early dismissal and drop this off. Someone left it for you at the front desk." Kate handed her a box which she opened to discover was more alien tech that had been found from the Racnoss incident Christmas eve.

"Guess I'll catalog this today then."

"Don't stay too late. Don't leave the boyfriend hanging."

"I won't." she promised getting to work. Before she knew it, it was time to leave and she drove to the hotel where a valet parked her car and a bellboy brought her things to the room. She grabbed her key from the front desk and when she arrived in the room, there were flowers on the desk for her from Jack. She smiled before putting on some music and started to get ready. She called Jack forty minutes later to tell him she was ready and within five minutes he met her at the door.

"Wow… you look… stunning." He said with a smile, holding a single red rose and a wrapped box in his hands."

"There's more stuff? Jack this is too much. The flowers at work were enough and this and dinner?"

"I've had a bank account here since 1901, I've saved up enough money and Torchwood pays great. So don't worry about cost… ever. We're fine."

"Okay." She said taking his hand and bringing him into the room. "Just let me get my coat."

"No, I want you to open one of your presents first."

"Let me get yours too." She said running over to her purse and pulling out the wrapped package.

"You first," Jack said handing her a small square shaped box. She smiled and unwrapped it to reveal a velvet box and inside was a diamond hair comb.

"It's beautiful!" she said admiring it.

"I wanted to get you jewelry but you always wear the same necklace, you don't wear bracelets because they get in the way and you don't like wearing expensive earrings since you lose them so often so… I figured this might do the trick. It's also from a shop that was down the street from where we first met in the forties."

"I love it." She sat down in front of the mirror and carefully stuck it into her bun. "This is for you… it's nothing fancy but I figured you might like it."

He took the package and tore open the wrapping paper to reveal the leather bound book. "The Story of Us." He read aloud before opening it and perusing the pages.

"I thought you might like some pictures from back then and from now and there's more room to add pictures… I know it might be a little painful some of the old ones but… they brought back such good memories."

"This is the best gift anyone has ever given me." He said turning to her. "I love it." He kissed her gently and held her tight. "It's perfect. Now let's go have a drink before dinner. The night is still young and I have many plans for us."

The two went to the hotel bar and Rebecca sipped on her wine and Jack on his scotch before Jack rushed them off to a fancy Italian restaurant with an amazing authentic menu and served Gelato from the gelateria they had visited in Venice many a time.

"Okay how you tracked down this place is beyond me but this is AMAZING!" she told Jack grinning. "I haven't had Gelato in ages."

"I remembered you loved the turtle cheesecake from Venice so I made sure they had some for you. Had them reserve it"

"You are amazing." Rebecca sighed, dropping her spoon. "I'm stuffed."

"Well, how about an after dinner stroll then?" Jack proposed. "I know the perfect spot."

"Isn't it a little cold?" she said.

"It isn't far. I swear. I'll keep you warm."

"Well… when you put it that way…" she grinned and took his hand and the two walked with Jack's arm wrapped around Rebecca's shoulder, keeping her warmer before the two found themselves in the West End.

"Theater districts always fascinate me." Rebecca said. "I loved the one in New York… it's crowded but I love the culture."

"I like it too." Suddenly the two stopped in front of a theater, a line forming outside the door. "Well we're here."

Rebecca looked up to see the marquee for "The Phantom of the Opera" a little way in front of them and turned to Jack surprised.

"We're seeing Phantom?"

"We inspired it on your eighteenth birthday. It's romantic… it's Valentine's Day, I figured you'd like it." Rebecca reached out and kissed him.

"I love it! Thank you!" she said squeezing his hand. "This is like the best day ever." She kissed him again.

"We're going in. Come on." The two went into the theater and took their seats which were of course the best money could buy and settled in for the show, observing amazed but at intermission pointing out the mistakes from what had really occurred to them, compared to the novel and compared to the show.

After careful debate they decided that while their personal account with the phantom of the opera was the most interesting, it wouldn't have translated very well onto the stage and they were glad certain cuts had been made from the novel and saddened by others. Once the second act ended, the two bundled up into their coats and caught a black cab back to their hotel and went up to their room, barely able to keep their hands off each other and very excited to show one another their love.

The next day Rebecca struggled to make it to work on time due to Jack trying to seduce her to come back to bed but she pushed through making it to work only one minute before she was scheduled to start. Kate gave her a knowing look but didn't press the issue letting her get on with her work.

It was a few weeks later when Rebecca woke up almost unable to move that things started to seem not so perfect. Her body was achy and her head throbbed. She managed to pull herself out of the comfort of her bed and into her bathroom where she found that she had a high fever and she popped a couple of Tylenol and called Kate telling her she wasn't coming in before crawling back into her bed.

Her doorbell rang a few hours later and she pulled herself out of bed once more and pulled a robe on to find a man at the door holding soup and a box of tissues.

"Delivery for Rebecca Goodman." He said cheerfully.

"That's me." She said miserably.

"Feel better miss. Mama's soup will help."

"Who sent you?"

"American man on the phone… John? James?"

"Jack." She said nodding. "Thank you."

"You're welcome miss."

She immediately grabbed a spoon from the kitchen and her phone settling on the couch with her soup, tissues and a throw blanket.

She called Jack up.

"Hey babe."

"How did you know I was sick?"

"I called your office. Kate answered the phone told me you had called in sick today with a fever. Figured I'd send soup since I'm stuck here for a while. I wish I could be there to take care of you."

"Two hours away and you still managed to do that. I'm impressed. Thanks for the soup love."

"Anytime baby." She could hear the sound of an alert in the background.

"I'll let you go Jack. Call me when you're free later. I'll be in bed, possibly sleeping but awaiting your call."

"In bed? Well I'd like to see that." Rebecca laughed for a moment and then told Jack to shush, before eating her delicious soup.

He called her later and flirted with her making her smile and feel better just from laughing. She was feeling much better even though her joints ached the next day and returned to work although found herself feeling much more fatigued than usual. She found herself yawning and Malcolm asking her if she was alright.

"Just tired Malcolm. I'm sure I'll be fine." But she wasn't completely fine, the joint aches and the fatigue became more constant figures in Rebecca's life but she assumed it was due to the stressful life she led.

Jack visited her on the weekends or she would take a train to Cardiff on Saturday evenings and spend Sunday with him before heading back to Oxford for classes on Mondays. Rebecca while tired, had never been this happy and everything seemed to be falling into place for her.

She could almost give up the dream of traveling the universe again if she could keep this life and live with Jack… and maybe even someday have the family she always wanted.

That was when it all fell apart.

It started off like any other day. The mourning routine of getting dressed, eating a bowl of maple brown sugar oatmeal, grabbing a cup of coffee from the coffee shop down the road and popping in an audio book into the CD player before riding to London for work.

She flashed her badge at the gate and parked her Mini in the designated spot before picking up her mail, a few memos and a couple of packages from field offices around the country. She set those items on the table in the lab, greeting Malcolm as he entered.

"Good morning Malcolm."

"Morning Ms. Goodman. I've got a package for you. The Mail room said that it had just missed you so I brought it to you."

"Thank you Malcolm" she said, grabbing the package from his precarious stack on his desk before placing it on the table. "No return address, maybe it's inter-departmental," she mused, strolling over to her hook and grabbing her lab coat, slipping it over her arms. She then pulled on a pair of gloves and grabbed a pair of scissors, cutting through the packing tape.

She gingerly removed the bubblewrapped package from the box and went to remove the plastic wrapping. She cut open a slit in the wrap, and began to tear it apart when whatever was in the package exploded, causing Rebecca to fly through the air and crash against the wall, before falling to the floor in an unconscious heap.

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

Rebecca's eyes fluttered open to reveal a bright white, clinical-looking room. Her limbs felt heavy but she felt warm and cocooned, the steady rhythm of her heart monitor, comforting like a lullaby.

Her attempt to sit up was not nearly as pleasant, causing her to groan in pain.

"Thank heavens you're awake." River said from a corner of the room. "Don't move sweetie." She rose from her chair, dropping her copy of The Journal of Biological Anthropology.

"What happened? I feel like I've been hit by a truck," her voice sounded raspy.

"You were opening a package at work and apparently it was a bomb. Bomb squad is investigating and trying to find a source."

"Malcolm?!" she asked alarmed.

"Is absolutely fine sweetie. Just shaken up with a small cut from a piece of shrapnel. It's you we were worried about."

"What's wrong with me?"

"Some second degree burns on your arms from when you tried to shield your face, some deep cuts from the shrapnel which have already been stitched up, and a hairline skull fracture. Concussion of course."

"I guess I got off easy then. "

"You could've died!" River told her. Rebecca tried to sit up once more, her chest aching and River grabbed the remote for the hospital bed and eased her up slowly.

"I didn't die River. I'm still here.

"I don't think you understand what the implications of your death this early in your timeline could mean for-"

A knock on the door interrupted her thought when a young Indian woman in a whiate coat with a chart appeared.

"Ms. Goodman? Hi, I'm Dr. Patel. I've been treating your injuries thus far."

"Well thank you Dr. Patel."

"How's your pain on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the worst and 1 being no pain at all."

"Five I guess. Maybe six? I guess it's mostly my head and my chest.

"You bruised a couple of ribs I suspect. But there are no fractures. You had a hairline fracture to your right parietal bone. I'm sorry there's really nothing we can do for it except to give you some pain relievers. We're still waiting on the results from your blood work to make sure there were no toxins released by the bomb that we may have missed."

"Dr. Patel, I have the results of the bloodwork you ordered," a nurse called from the doorway. Dr. Patel walked over to her and picked up the paper from the nurse.

"Thank you Mary." Dr. Patel began scanning the results and instantaneously her face fell.

"Ms. Song, could you give us a moment?" River looked at Rebecca who simply nodded.

"I'll be right outside sweetie." River said, gathering her things.

"What is this about?" Rebecca asked.

"I just go your blood work and…"

"And what?"

"There appears to be some…anomalies."

"What, high cholesterol or something?"

"No… it's a bit more serious than that Ms. Goodman."

"Please, Dr. Patel, can we get to the point?"

"It isn't very good news, I'm afraid and I'm struggling to find a way to put this..." Rebecca, usually a rather patient person found that in that moment her patience was severely lacking and simply took the report out of Dr. Patel's hands and began scanning it for the results only to find the diagnosis.

Leukemia.

In that moment Rebecca's heart stopped.

"Tell me this has been double checked."

"Triple, which is why it took so long." Dr. Patel said. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry." Rebecca snapped. "Tell me what type it is, how bad it is, what my odds are and what forms of treatment are available."

"More testing needs to be done before I can answer your questions."

"Then go order said tests" Rebecca barked, her voice tight, almost strangled, tears forming as Dr. Patel just stared at her sadly. "GO!" she yelled.

Dr. Patel rushed out, River bumping into her on the way.

"Tell me that you're just pregnant and those are just happy tears." River begged her hands clasped together.

"I wish… I don't even know if I can have kids after this."

"After what?"

"River I have…. Leukemia." Rebecca choked out the four syllables.

"Oh my God, sweetie." River immediately pulled her into a hug and even though Rebecca's body was sore, she needed it.

"Ms. Goodman," a knock came at the door. "I'm here to take you to your MRI." The nurse helped her into a wheelchair, wheeling her down to radiology.

As she lay perfectly still in the MRI machine, her mind drifted to Jack who had lost so much already and if the scans didn't get good results, he'd be watching her die and she couldn't let him do that.

Once she was out of the MRI and back in her room, she asked River if Jack had been called and she said that he had been and was on his way.

"Does he know?"

"Only that you were injured. I was very vague I only told him that you were doing find and you were stable."

"Do… do you know about Jack's condition?"

"Yes, I've known for years."

"Then tell me what should I do? I can't make him watch me die."

"I don't know sweetie. I don't know."

Sometime later, a doctor came in and took a spinal tap, a needle stuck into her spine to draw spinal fluid for testing. And it was only an hour later that an older female doctor came in to discuss her results.

"Ms. Goodman, I have the results from your tests. It appears that you have Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. It appears that in your particular case, the cancer seems to be aggressive. So I'm getting you an appointment with an oncologist here at Royal hope at the next possible appointment. They system is very loaded so we're doing our best."

"Odds? What are my odds?"

"Normally for ALL the odds are about 50-50."

"There is no such thing as a normal case. I don't want averages. I want what you think MY chances are."

"I'm… I'm not qualified or at liberty to say…"

"An educated guess then." Rebecca pleaded.

"I'd say tdue tour cancer's aggressiveness and the fact that survivorship rates are lower in people your age… my guess is that your chances dropped to maybe…twenty to thirty percent. Treatments are available but that…"

"Doesn't guarantee a thing." Rebecca finished letting out a sigh.

"But your oncologist will be able to give you better timelines and statistics as well as your treatment options."

'Thank you." Rebecca said her face drained of all color. "Can I be discharged yet?"

"We were planning on keeping you a few more hours for observation maybe even over-night. But I can try and keep your time here to a minimum. I'll go see if I can get your paperwork."

"Thank you." Rebecca said. She buried her face in her hands, trying to hide her face and the tears that were coming out of her eyes.

"Sweetie… I got you some clothes." River said holding the tote-bag of spare clothes Rebecca kept in her car.

"Good they're getting my discharge paperwork."

"And Jack? He's coming here."

"I'll call him once I'm out." Rebecca grabbed the clothes from River and slowly made her way to the bathroom and looked at the bruising on her chest and her bandaged arms, her eyes looked tired and red and she looked like she had been through hell. She slid into the camisole and sweater, slowly pulling on her jeans and slipping on the flats.

By the time she exited, the discharge paperwork and instructions on how to care for her wounds were ready and she was at the nurses station, signing her name.

"REBECCA!" Jack called out, sprinting down the hallway towards her she held out her hands to motion for him to stop.

"What happened?"

"Small accident at work. I'm fine."

"You look like hell. A beautiful hell but hell none the less." Jack put a hand on her arm and she pulled back in pain.

"Please don't touch me." She begged not meeting his eyes.

"Becks what happened?"

"It doesn't matter I'm fine." She said, slamming the pen down on the counter and quickly thanking the nurse before grabbing her bag and walking the opposite direction of Jack, rushing down the hallway towards the stairs.

"Of course it matters. Every part of your life matters to me." He said.

"It shouldn't." she said rushing down the stairs.

"What are you talking about?" Jack asked confused. "You are everything to me. What happened? Did someone hurt you?"

"What? No!" she continued.

"I won't be mad at you. It's not your fault. I'll wring those son of a bitches' necks."

"I was in an explosion. Someone sent a bomb to the lab. I have some bruised ribs, burns, stitches and a fractured skull. I'm fine." She said turning around for a split second to look at him and regretting doing it and immediately turned back around, rushing toward the lobby doors and out into the street.

"Then why won't you look at me? What did I do? Did I forget our anniversary?"

"No, our anniversary is next week and there won't be an us then."

"Won't be an us? Rebecca what are you talking about? I thought we were good… I thought that we were happy."

"We were… I just need some time to myself." She said.

"I don't believe you. I know you Rebecca and you're lying."

"This has nothing to do with you." She said tears starting to form in her eyes.

"C'mon? It's not 'you' it's me card? That's the oldest breakup in the book. You know it's not true. Why won't you look at me?" he said grabbing her hand.

"Because I know if I look at you, I'll change my mind and won't go through with this!" she cried out.

"Then look at me don't do this. Don't leave me."

"I have to." She said tears streaming down her face.

"Why? Rebecca please…"

"I DON'T WANT YOU TO HAVE TO WATCH ME DIE." She shouted, turning around to face him, grabbing his other hand.

"Did you have some flash of mortality when you almost died? Because I know Rebecca, I know that you're mortal and I'm not and it plagues me everyday."

"That's not what I mean Jack." She shook her head. "I'm sick."

"You said you were fine!"

"I have A-L-L."

"You have all? All what? All the reasons to leave me? All the badges from the pokemon gym? All the paperwork from UNIT for a vacation? I'm not following here."

"I have acute lymphoblastic leukemia. ALL." She choked out. Immediately Jack had his arms around her crying form, gently pulling her into a hug.

"Hey, look at me. I'm not leaving you. Not now, and not ever. We're gonna fight this, okay?" he told her, kissing her forehead.

"Jack, my odds don't look good."

"Then we work hard on finding the Doctor who can take you to a time when we have a cure. We call him. We do everything we can so you and I get our happily ever after. Got that?"

"It's more like we have a happily never after."

"Don't talk like that." He said. "We have to keep a positive outlook."

"That's easy for you to say! You're not the one who's dying! My own body is trying to kill me and so is some external force that tried to blow me up." she yelled before breaking down into tears again, huddled into his chest.

"Shh…." He said holding her. "I'm not giving up on you. On us. Okay?"

"Okay."

AN: Yeah… I might suck…. A little. Or a lot you know… whatever floats your boat.

Hope your years are going well. I've been struggling with this for weeks and wrote most of it in a notebook on a delayed flight during my vacation as well as reading four hundred pages in a book. Dragonfly in Amber is getting quite good.

Anyway, Did you hear they're gonna have a radio program for Torchwood. Isn't that cool?

Love John Barrowman so you know… I'm excited.

Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Leave your reviews, favorite and follow.

-Emma