"On sleepless roads the sleepless go." -Hear You Me, Jimmy Eat World

Disc: don't own it, don't sue me

Warnings: slash, non con (non graphic), space travel…

ans: as am now firmly back in the slash, have decided to clean this story up a bit so it can actually be read.

Jack closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Moments later he felt a gentle tingling running up his arms, legs, across his back and chest, up towards his head. It was almost like a buzzing, inside his head, and the rubber pads felt hot.

He saw a huge building on a green lawn, people lying on the grass, laughing. They were wearing some kind of uniform.

The memories didn't all come at once, not like he'd expected. Some drifted in in pictures, the knowledge of what it actually was catching up a moment later. The building was where he'd studied to become a Time Agent. He'd loved it there.

He remembered his home planet, his family, all long since dead. He remembered his career as a Time Agent, and after that, as a con artist. He remembered Rose and the Doctor, and he remembered the Daleks.

He didn't know how long he was under the energy beams, but when the tingling stopped and Dominic was pulling the rubber pads off his head, he remembered everything.

"Jack?" Dominic asked tentatively.

"Yes," he whispered, and his voice sounded strange, not like him at all.

"Yes," he repeated stronger, more confident, and when he looked at Dominic he felt that stirring of attraction, the attraction he'd felt for so many others, all over the universe, many, many times before.

"I remember. I didn't kill anyone. It was the Daleks. And the Doctor he just…he just left me."

Dominic was watching him carefully.

"Are you okay? Do you feel any sickness, dizziness?"

Jack shook his head. He couldn't get the sound of the TARDIS engines out of his head, speeding round the corner to see it disappearing into nothingess. He supposed that must have been when he lost his memory, because he couldn't remember anything after that.

How could The Doctor just leave him? Didn't he even bother to come back and see if Jack was alive? How hard would it have been, they were on the same floor for crying out loud.

"Jack?"

He blinked, bringing Dominic into focus. This man had seemed so important to him only moments ago, the only man who had believed in him, but now…now he just seemed like another pretty face, there to be used for his own satisfaction.

He was more annoyed than anything. Annoyed that he'd gone and lost his memory and ended up as a suspect for mass murder. Anyone only need to ask the Time Agency and they would surely…

He froze, the thought hitting him like a brick. The Time Agency.

"Do they know where I am?" he asked urgently.

Dominic looked blank.

"Who?"

"The Time Agency! Do they know I'm here?"

"They're…they're sending someone for you tomorrow. That's why I did the procedure tonight. Because I thought that they would take you."

"You're right," Jack said grimly. "They would have taken me. You have to help me get out of here."

Dominic stared at him, wide eyed.

"I…I can't," he stammered. "I would lose my job."

"And I might lose my life," Jack snapped. "These people have been looking for me for a very long time. They're not going to give up easily now they know I'm alive."

"I don't understand. What did you do?"

"I ran away," Jack said simply. "But only after they stole two years of my memories."

A look of understanding dawned on Dominic's face.

"The modification."

"Exactly. I was travelling with some companions when we ended up on Satellite 5. The Daleks slaughtered everyone there. To even think a human could have done it is ridiculous."

"Jack," Dominic said tentatively. "Are you sure you're not feeling hot, because that's the second time you've mentioned a Dalek."

"Yes," Jack snapped impatiently. "And?"

"Well…they don't exist."

Jack stared at him for a moment.

"You don't know. Of course you don't know. The good old Doctor got rid of them, of every trace. He must of thought I was dead, I-"

He stopped suddenly, feeling a flash of memory so vivid, so real, that he staggered on the glass floor. There had been the heat, so intense, rattling through his bones, he remembered the sound of his own skin singing with electricity, then nothing.

"Jack? Jack, what's wrong?"

"I…I think I died."

Dominic stared at him.

"What?"

"I remember the Dalek zapping me. It killed me, but then…how am I…I don't…"

"It could be a false memory," Dominic said. "Your mind might still be a bit scrambled."

"It happened," Jack insisted. He stood up, ignoring the slight shaking in his legs. "I have to get out of here. I have to go. The Doctor…"

But he couldn't finish that thought, because hadn't the Doctor left him? Even if Jack had been a second sooner, would the Doctor have wanted him?

Or was that why he hadn't come back? Because he didn't care.

"I have to go."

"I can't just let you walk out of here," Dominic said.

"If I stay, I will be killed."

"Jack please, listen to me."

"Yes listen to him, Jack."

Both Dominic and Jack whirled in the direction of the door, where a new figure stood, a woman, with striking blonde hair, dressed in sleek black clothes.

"Although you never were very good at taking orders, were you?"

Jack stared at her.

"Do I know you?"

She didn't answer his question, instead walked into the room, her high heeled boots clicking on the glass floor.

"Veronica Baudelaire," she said, holding a badge in black leather casing out to Dominic. "I'm with the Time Agency."

Dominic regarded her with suspicion.

"I was informed you'd be here tomorrow."

"You were informed wrong," she replied. "Now if you don't mind, I would like a few moments alone with Captain Harkness."

Dominic raised his chin.

"I don't think that will be possible."

Veronica Baudelaire smiled coldly.

"Doctor Cartwright, I assume you want this unfortunate mess to be cleared up without any, shall we say, accusations against your department. I don't think it will be too difficult, providing, of course, you co-operate

Dominic hesitated, his eyes flitting between Jack and Veronica.

"I'll be outside," he said eventually.

Jack nodded, his eyes on Veronica.

Dominic left the room, the door hissing shut behind him.

Immediately, Veronica lost the cold, authoritative air she had held only seconds ago.

"We don't have much time."

Jack stared at her.

"What on earth are you talking about? And you never answered my question before."

Veronica looked straight at him. She had deep brown eyes, almost black.

"Yes, you know me, but you don't remember me."

Jack went very still.

"And why is that?"

Veronica smiled sadly.

"Because they erased all memory of me."

"You know why they erased my memory."

"Yes."

There was a sudden tension in the small room.

"Why?"

"Not now. I have to get you out of here, before someone turns up that the Agency actually sent."

"Wait, the Agency didn't send you?"

Veronica sighed.

"Jack, the Agency has been looking very hard for you. And not for very nice reasons."

"Because I left?"

"You made the only choice you could, at the end."

Jack shook his head.

"I don't understand. If they didn't send you, why are you here?"

"To save you," Veronica said simply.

"But why?"

She stared at him for a moment with those startlingly dark eyes.

"Because I loved you."

For a moment there was silence, then Jack laughed, shaking his head.

"How is it wherever I go I manage to make people fall in love with me? Am I really that irresistible?"

Veronica regarded him coldly.

"It's hardly a laughing matter," she said. "We weren't just having a silly little fling. Although, admittedly, you do find it hard to tell the difference."

Jack got the impression she was trying to wound him, although he really found her barbed comments slightly amusing. He wondered if this was what they'd been like together: her trying to stir emotions in him and him unaffected and uncaring.

"If we were such great lovers then how come I remember nothing about you?"

"Don't Jack," she said. "Just because you don't know me doesn't mean I don't know you. Don't try and pretend this is all a game. This is your life."

"My life's always been a game," he replied carelessly, and Veronica sighed, shaking her head.

"Then I'm almost sorry to have to be the one to disillusion you," she said softly. "You were on an undercover mission, infiltrating slave traders who were using holes in time to snatch children and force them into prostitution. That was when we met. I was there to oversee the operation and you, well, you were charming as always. I fell in love with you very quickly, and I think at one point you may have even felt the same."

"So what happened?" Jack asked.

"Your cover was blown. After almost two years your communications with us just…stopped. It took us two months to find you, but by then it was too late. They had removed the information you had gathered for us, and at the same time taken a large chunk of your memories, anything that had to do with the case, including me. It was done crudely, there was no way we could save the memories. And in the meantime, they had tortured you daily. By the time we got to you, all you had left were memories of being tortured with no idea why. We thought it best to take those memories too. The morning after the operation, you were gone. There was no trace of you. They've been looking ever since."

"I was trained well," Jack said, wondering how he could be talking so normally after her revelation. "I knew how to hide."

She smiled sadly.

"You always were the best."

Jack shook his head, finding all this new information difficult to absorb.

"So what now? You get me out of here and we run happily off into the sunset?"

"Something like that," Veronica said.

He nodded. She wanted him to go with her, to run away with her. Maybe even fall back in love with her. And give up any chance of finding the Doctor. There was something very wrong with this, with Veronica. Something about her story just didn't quite add up…

"You said for the undercover mission you were overseeing the operation."

She nodded, frowning.

"Yes, that's right. Why do you ask?"

He shrugged.

"No reason. It's just that, you must have a pretty high up position to be overseeing operations of that importance."

She stiffened visibly and he knew he'd hit his mark.

"Too high up to be willing to throw it all away for a con man like me."

He leant close to her, their faces almost touching, unable to completely hide his anger.

"What did they tell you, huh? 'Jack can't resist a bit of skirt, he'll believe your story, no problem'? Well too bad sister, because I know myself and I know your sort, and I know you wouldn't have taken a second look at me."

There was a long, tense moment, then Veronica smiled icily, the change in her face so abrupt Jack felt like it was a different person.

"Congratulations, Mr Harkness. You really are smarter than you appear."

"It's Captain Harkness."

Veronica Baudelaire looked suitably unimpressed.

"I really don't care. And I can promise you, when the Agency's seen what I've brought them, they'll let me call you anything I want."

He smiled bitterly.

"So all of that really was just a pretty story to set my imagination off."

"Oh no Jack. That really happened. You were almost insane when they found you. You couldn't talk or move or do anything really. The only solution they could think of was to erase the torture."

She reached out a slender hand, running it gently down his cheek. Her fingers were cold.

"Personally, I always rather thought that you deserved it."

Jack jerked back as if he'd been stung.

"You cold hearted bitch."

"But that's what makes me so successful. And you were right, by the way. I wouldn't have taken a second look."

Outside in the corridor, there was a sudden scream, different from the usual screams that perforated the glass prison walls, and Jack tore his eyes away from her, whipping his head toward the door.

"Something's not right," he said.

When he turned back, Veronica had withdrawn a blaster and was pointing it at his head.

"Don't move," she ordered.

Jack glared at her.

"Like you said, I was never very good at taking orders."

She moved towards him, pressing the blaster point against his forehead.

"Then may I suggest now is the optimum time to change."

There was another scream outside, then an ear shattering crash as the corridor wall shattered inwards, the sudden force knocking both Jack and Veronica to the floor, glass shards embedding themselves in Jack's thin hospital scrubs.

Dazed, he tried to stand, but rough hands grabbed at him, male hands, he noted, and began dragging him off the floor. He kicked out, and his captor slammed his head against the glass floor, shocking him into submission. He could see Veronica fighting another huge man, heard the blaster go off and then she was suddenly still.

The hands were pressing him down into the floor, tearing at his shirt, and there was laughter, deep gruff laughter, and his head felt so woozy, he couldn't fight back.

The man ripped his shirt off his body, and with a sudden, cold revelation, Jack knew exactly what they were about to do him.

The realisation kick started him into action, and he began fighting, screaming and punching and kicking, determined to save himself. He couldn't go down now, not just after he knew who he was again. He wouldn't.

The hands on him stilled suddenly, and a gruff voice snapped, "Not here, we don't have time. There's something on the sensors. Take him back and you can spend as long as you want over him there."

There was a moment's silence, then he was being dragged across the glass covered floor and hauled onto a shoulder. He lay limp, his struggle gone, until he saw Dominic.

He was outside the shattered door, lying face up, a crimson wound spreading across his chest. He was dead.

He began to scream again, and he was dumped painfully on the floor, a boot rearing back in his vision and exploding with the side of his head, exploding into blackness.

By the time the Doctor and Rose reached Foreline it was too late.

The space pirates had already left their path of devastation, and the once imposing prison hospital sat smoking in ruins before them on one of Earth's five moons.

"We're too late," said Rose, standing in the TARDIS doorway. "We're too late."

The Doctor nodded.

"It certainly looks that way."

He stepped across the smooth moon surface and began making his way across to the battered front gates of the institution.

"Where are you going?" Rose called after him.

"Stay in the Tardis, Rose."

There was a moment, then he heard her running behind him.

"Don't just walk off," she snapped, and he felt a brief flash of guilt when he took in the dark circles under her eyes. He knew she'd been having nightmares.

"Stay with Evey, I won't be long."

For a moment he thought she was going to argue, then she just looked sad and turned away from him. As he watched her walk away he realised they still didn't know each other, not very well. The old Doctor would probably have let her come with him, Evey too, but now…

Now he just felt like he'd be endangering her. He couldn't help but think if the old him hadn't been so eager to put Jack in danger, Jack might still be alive.

And there was this feeling, this nagging feeling he'd had ever since he'd woken up.

That was why he'd come back here in the first place, that was why he was now going into what was essentially a ruined wreck. This feeling, that he couldn't quite explain or place.

Inside, it was even worse. Bodies and broken glass littered what must have been smart, bare corridors. Blood streaked up whatever glass was left, pooled on the floor.

He wondered how the pirates broke the strong glass used for prisons. They must have stronger weaponry that he'd thought.

He weaved his way round the vast building, hoping to find survivors, but the only sounds were his own shoes crunching the glass underfoot, echoing in the eerie silence.

Rose was right. They were too late. Everyone was dead or taken. They would never know who the survivor was, would never know how he survived.

There was a hand around his ankle.

Even as he turned he knew the hold wasn't a threat, could feel the weakness in the grasp, the life slipping away. It was a man in a white coat stained red with his own blood, a young man, the Doctor realised. Too young to have been subjected to this fate.

He dropped to his knees, pressing his palm against the man's chest, but he knew it was futile, that this man had no chance.

His eyes fell on the man's name tag, neatly pinned to his once white coat.

Dr Cartwright.

"Dr Cartwright," he said. "I'm a Doctor too, what a coincidence." His cheer sounded forced, but he continued anyway. "The Doctor in fact. Not an actual doctor of anything, though, not really. Or maybe I'm a doctor of everything, I'm not sure."

Dr Cartwright's brown eyes were fixed on his face, intent despite the obvious pain he was in.

"You're him, the Doctor?" he rasped.

The Doctor's ears pricked up.

"That's right. Do you know who I am?"

Cartwright blinked once, slowly.

"Jack Harkness," he murmured.

The Doctor felt himself go so still he thought his hearts might have stopped beating.

"How do you know Jack Harkness?" he asked.

"He's my…patient," Cartwright said haltingly.

The Doctor tried to stay calm. There must be a million Jack Harknesses in the universe. And it was just co incidence that this one happened to be near Satellite 5 only two weeks after Jack was killed. It didn't mean…it wasn't possible…

"Why? Why was he your patient?"

"He-" Cartwright broke off coughing, and the Doctor placed a hand under his head, trying to support him. "He was found on the Gamestation. He had no memory. They thought he'd killed everyone, but I knew…she was going to take him. I don't…I don't know what…"

"Who?" The Doctor asked urgently. "Who was going to take him?"

"From the Time Agency," he gasped. "But he wanted to look for you, he…then they came…they took him."

"Who took him?" Cartwright didn't answer, his mouth suddenly slack. "Who?"

Cartwright's eyes blinked slowly, then closed. He wasn't breathing.

Of course he knew who. Evey had said the same thing when they'd asked her. "Then they came." Space pirates. The Doctor remained for a moment kneeling, head bowed, then stood, carefully placing Cartwright's body back on the glass floor.

"I'm sorry," he murmured. "I'm so sorry."

It wasn't possible. The Doctor had heard Jack die. He had heard that Dalek zap him. Jack was dead.

But Cartwright had known him, the Doctor. He had said that Jack had been looking for him. And he had mentioned The Time Agency.

That niggling feeling, in the back of his head. Could this possibly be what it meant? Could Jack really be alive?

He turned and sprinted back down the maze of corridors, effortlessly remembering the way he had come, until he burst out of the front gates, the TARDIS in view.

Banging the doors open, it was Evey he went straight to, not Rose, and he bent to look into the girl's eyes.

"Where is the space pirates' base?" he asked.

She stared blankly back at him.

"I don't know, how would I know?"

"Think!" he snapped, shaking her shoulders.

"I…" She looked helplessly round the TARDIS. "Anywhere…I don't…"

"It will be somewhere high profile, somewhere they can mock your planet. Somewhere powerful."

"The Whitehouse," said Rose suddenly.

The Doctor looked up at her, his eyes lighting up.

"Of course. What better way to throw the very foundation of power out of the window."

He looked back at Evey.

"Is the Whitehouse still there, in this time?"

She nodded, her eyes big.

He spun away from her, towards the console and began setting the knobs for co ordinates.

"Doctor?" asked Rose. "What's going on?"

The Doctor looked up at her, his hand on the flight lever.

"Jack's still alive."

tbc