Crazy busy week of travelling around and beginning application forms, I'm sorry! I'll be posting twice today and I'll probably post twice on wednesday too to make up for it! thankyou for your patience and I hope you enjoy it!

CHAPTER 3

Jack stepped into the TARDIS and flung his jacket onto the coat stand without stopping, moving out of the control room and into the corridor that contained the bedrooms. His plan was simply to leave the necklace in the box in Rose's room, but when he heard a gentle humming, he quickly changed his plan.

Rose was sitting at the dresser she'd insisted on having in her room and brushing her hair carefully in the mirror. She didn't notice as Jack slunk inside, entering from an angle that was blind in the mirror, until he was draping something around her neck and fastening it. A hand flew to the new jewellery and she looked up at Jack's reflection, spinning to give him a fierce hug around the middle.

"Thank you!" She looked up and grinned.

Jack smiled in return. "Not at all. Where's big ears?"

"I don't know. He said something about hearing someone - he was distracted the entire time we were out!" Rose sighed and pouted slightly and turned back to the mirror, looking at the necklace again. "Mind you, it was pretty mediocre, nothing compared to the Great Pyramids – and we already did those three times! So we came back early, and he disappeared off."

"I'll see if I can find him," he said gently, squeezing her shoulder in assurance and turning around, moving lightly towards the door.

He shoved his hands in the pockets of his jeans and headed out of the room, into the corridor and towards the console room before he reached out to sense the Doctor's mind. Or rather, he reached out to sense the blank stretch of nothing that was the Doctor's mind.

Jack understood completely why the Time Lord kept his mind under such close lock and key. Jack had spent the last decade of his life doing the exact same thing. Every Time Agent was tested for latent psychic ability and those that showed some promise were trained up. He hadn't really cared when he'd been found to have sufficient skill to be put into training.

It hadn't been several years later, when he had a mission in a system full of cultures that communicated psychically, that he'd really paid attention to the skill he'd never developed. There'd been several interplanetary wars going on and the sheer force of the thoughts being flung around in the capital city of one world had made him throw up for days on end. Had the true level of his psychic abilities been discovered before the mission, he would have been trained specifically against what had happened - but the Time Agency's initial ability tests were designed to just give a positive or negative result.

As a result of him reacting so violently to the psychic trauma, he had been shipped off to a training camp for three months, to master closing his mind off. It was only then that he had realised how much easier his life was without the subconscious hints he picked up from people whilst he interacted with them. After he could block himself off, he was his own man.

Now though, over the past few weeks, the Doctor had been diligently trying to reverse the mindset Jack had forced himself into. He had been trying to open the man up, to make him accept and control the fact that he had this ability. Jack had tried his hardest but made very little progress so far.

He reached out with his mind to find the ever present absence of the Doctor's mind. In the ship that was so full of life and so colourful in her mental communication, the gentle, disguised absence of her owner was easy enough to find. The Doctor was in the 'quiet room'; a room kept a good distance from anywhere else on the ship, for obvious reasons. It was the room of choice for the Doctor's lessons. Slowly, Jack headed towards it, the TARDIS humming and warming the passage as he walked through.

Eventually, he approached the room and softly patted the wall in thanks, before knocking on the door. He waited for several moments before he heard a murmur inviting him in.

Gently Jack pushed the door open, looking into the room cautiously. It was nothing more sinister than four walls, a floor and a ceiling, but there was very little else in there. There were no light fittings, no furniture, no trinkets – just a plain room.

It was, however, malleable. When Jack had first stayed in there, the walls had pushed out to provide him with a small recess, similar to something he'd described sitting in at his childhood home. The TARDIS seemed to control the light levels, the soft, yellowish glow pulsing from the ceiling, rippling slightly, as if coming through the surface of an expanse of water. Jack had found it so peaceful that he'd spent almost five hours just lying on his back and watching the ceiling and its light show.

The TARDIS had decided to keep him company, playing around with the patterns and colours of the light, making him smile and easing the nervous tension that had threaded his muscles together. It had been such an effective way of relaxing him and cheering him up after a particularly traumatic session with the Doctor that the ship had started playing light shows in his own room when he was restless or unable to sleep.

Now though, the lights were simply dimmed; covering the ceiling in a uniform, level way – much more like the Doctor's state of mind as he meditated. He was sat in the centre of the room, cross-legged and silent as he concentrated on something, a frown of confusion etched into his forehead.

As if feeling the air move around him, he looked up and grimaced as Jack walked in.

"Can you hear it, Jack?" he asked, frustration tinting his tone.

"Hear what?" Jack cocked an eyebrow and sat down opposite the man, as he was being gestured to do. He removed his shoes, like the Doctor and crossed his legs, settling down.

"There's something - someone – calling… can't you hear it?" He looked up at Jack seriously, but the Captain just shrugged.

"Nope." He gave the Time Lord an apologetic look and shifted slightly.

"How bloody dense do you want to be?" The Doctor scowled slightly, annoyance evident.

Jack moved instantly to the defensive. "Excuse me if I'm not hearing things!"

"That's not the point." The Doctor sighed heavily and reached forwards to grab Jack's hands, holding them firmly. "Reach out and listen. Just listen to everything."

Jack snorted sceptically but closed his eyes at a stern look, trying to pull down his walls a little. He mentally heard the Doctor clearing his throat impatiently and Jack worked faster at decoding his defences. He began to hear a whisper in his thoughts, something fearful and pained and Jack flinched, pulling back instinctively.

His eyes snapped open and he wrenched his hands from the Doctor's, glaring at him.

"What did you do that for?" Jack demanded angrily, feeling like his privacy had been invaded. He hadn't even taken the majority of his defences down and he'd felt the presence like a shower of acidic snow against his mind.

"Because the source is a good half mile away," the Doctor said thoughtfully as he rubbed his chin in contemplation. If the cries were that forceful at this distance, he didn't want to imagine the sheer torture the source must have been under.

Not only that, but his suspicions had been confirmed by Jack. It was easier for psychic beings to connect to others from the same species, so the Doctor knew that if the Captain could hear the voice as well, its owner was more that likely to be of Human origin.

"There's nothing you can do but listen in here, so I don't see the issue." Jack shrugged and stood up again, heading towards where he'd kicked his boots.

"Good point." The Doctor suddenly grinned and jumped to his feet, pulling his shoes back on and moving to the door before Jack had even got his foot into his first boot. The Doctor turned expectantly. "Well? Come on then!"