Chapter 4

It only took him a minute to reach the main hub but as he looked around, he couldn't see Jack anywhere. Then, in the corner of his eye, he saw movement above him. There was someone in what looked like a conference room. He quickly climbed the stairs and stopped at the door. It was wide open.

As the Doctor stood on the threshold he saw a medium sized desk sitting at the right side of the room, with two chairs on either side. The chair further away from the Doctor was turned away making it difficult to see the occupant. A computer screen was sitting to the side of it, facing the Doctor, and the keyboard just below that. There was another doorway opposite him, leading back into the hub. A large window, to the left of him facing the desk, giving a nice view into the space of the hub. It didn't look too bad. Very snug.

"Like what you've done with the place," said the Doctor, cheerily.

Instantly the chair turned.

"Doctor!" exclaimed Jack. He rushed over to the Doctor and drew him into a hug.

Jack instantly drew away, looking at the Doctors face.

"How is she?" he asked, concern evident in his voice.

"She's fine. Just sleeping," replied the Doctor, softly, smiling, "Gwen is keeping an eye on her and she'll let me know when she wakes up again."

"Of course," replied Jack, "please sit down," as he indicated to the vacant chair closest to him. As the Doctor moved and sat down, Jack closed the door to the room and moved towards the Doctor. He perched himself on the table facing him.

"So how have you been, Doc?" he asked

"Oh, just fine. You know me," he smiled

"Donna still with you?" asked Jack.

"Donna… no… she went home," said the Doctor, feeling the sadness trying to take him over again.

"What happened, Doctor?" asked Jack, sensing the Doctors mood.

"Well… you know when we fought the Daleks and Davros and when there was a second Doctor?" asked the Doctor, "Well, you know I said he was the product of a two way biological meta-crisis and how Donna had a Time Lord consciousness in her head. Well, that consciousness was quickly killing her because there shouldn't be a mixing between Time Lords and Humans. It was too much for her head to take."

"Well, you turned out alright," said Jack, a little playfully

"I'm different," replied the Doctor, dismissively, with a wave of his hand, "anyway, in order to save her, I had to wipe her memory and take her back home. She couldn't have any memory of the TARDIS, our adventures together or me. If she did then she would die as her mind would burn up."

"I'm so sorry, Doctor," said Jack, reaching over and placing his hand on his shoulder supportively.

"Well, at least she's safe now," sighed the Doctor.

"And Rose? Gone back to the parallel world?" ventured Jack.

"Yeah," said the Doctor, not looking at Jack. He still couldn't get over the reality of her being in the parallel world with the other Doctor; his other self. That kiss still tortured him. The whole situation tore at him, but he had to take his other self somewhere where he couldn't do anymore harm. But, in reality he did do more harm; to him. It just hurt that he was with her and he wasn't.

"And what of the other Doctor?" asked Jack

"With Rose… he couldn't stay in this world because he would do too much damage. "At least Rose wont be lonely anymore," replied the Doctor, now looking at the floor, then he looked back up at Jack and smiled, "and I also gave them a piece of the TARDIS so they could grow one and travel around."

"A piece of the TARDIS? But I thought it would take thousands of years to grow," asked Jack

"It does, normally. I or actually Donna told them how to increase the rate of growth," replied the Doctor.

"Right, that's… interesting" said Jack, hesitantly, "but at least you got to see her again."

"I suppose," said the Doctor.

Silence reigned over them for a few moments as the Doctor tried to banish the thoughts that haunted him while Jack looked on, concerned about his emotional state. He knew that the Doctor had loved Rose but in truth he didn't know the full extent of that love. In fact, he didn't need to know. He only hoped that the Doctors pain would ease soon.

The silence that had descended between himself and Jack began to feel constrictive, almost choking him. He had to break it somehow and change the subject.

"Tell me Jack, what happened with the rift and Jenny?" asked the Doctor, looking back up at Jack.

"Well, we felt the rift become active and then out of nowhere, something came through. Gwen said it looked like a humanoid. Me and Ianto went out to see what it was," replied Jack, "and we found her, lying on the ground."

"And where did she land exactly?" asked the Doctor, intrigued

"Right on top of us," replied Jack

"And you brought her here," said the Doctor, more to himself, "did she say anything like where she came from?"

"Yes, she said she came from a planet called Thax, where they apparently have…"

"Portals to all the worlds in the universe," interrupted the Doctor

"You know it?" said Jack, surprised

"I've heard of it," replied the Doctor, "but never been there. Not yet," he added.

"Who are the Thax?" asked Jack

"More importantly, why was Jenny there? Did she say anything about it to you?" inquired the Doctor.

"Yeah, she said that she landed on their planet because her ship was damaged. She said that the Thaxolians helped her come here," replied Jack, looking at the Doctor, watching his reaction.

"Did she say why?" asked the Doctor, his face creased in thought.

"To find you," said Jack.

Briefly, there was another silence as the Doctor absorbed the information. So she had survived and risked her life to find him… more importantly, through impossible odds as it is very tricky to pinpoint where you'll actually land.

She was very much like him in every way, as he knew he would do exactly the same thing if he knew it would work or was the last option in a situation. He smiled at the thought.

"Do you have a recording of what happened?" asked the Doctor, looking up at Jack.

"Yes," replied Jack

"Can I have a look?"

"Of course," replied Jack. He immediately stood and moved around his desk. He turned to his computer. He instantly brought up the file and sat down in the nearby chair.

Jack played out the recording, which displayed Jenny's entry into this world. The Doctor studied it intently, with his glasses perched on his nose and asked for it to be replayed. He quickly moved around the desk and leaned close to the screen in order to take in every detail. Eventually he backed off and sat back in his chair opposite Jack.

So Jenny had come here through the rift, to Earth to find him. But why? Why did she land on Thax? Who was chasing her and who or what had made her crash. Those were the few questions that he would have to ask her when she woke up.

Jack looked at the Doctor while he sat in silence.

"Doctor?" asked Jack, turning in his chair towards the Doctor.

"Hmmm," mumbled the Doctor, coming out of his thoughts.

"Jenny, who is she? We found out that she has two hearts like you."

"I thought you already knew," replied the Doctor, puzzled.

"Yes but how?" asked Jack, prompted

"Well… Martha, Donna and me were taken to another planet. The TARDIS started to dematerialise without me even touching a button. We landed on a planet called Messaline, where the people were the descendants of a crashed ship's personnel and were fighting each other for control of their settlement. There they had machines that could grow people from a DNA sample very quickly, a little too quickly. At gun point they forced me to stick my hand into a sample extractor and a minute later, Jenny walked out," explained the Doctor, involuntarily rubbing his right hand.

"So she's some kind of clone?" asked Jack, leaning back in his chair, crossing his arms, looking directly at the Doctor.

"No, not exactly. She's a child born from my DNA and only mine. So you could say I am both mother and father."

"Congratulations."

"Thanks but before I left I tried to stop the conflict and I thought I did but one of the generals was hell bent on spilling blood and tried to shoot me for stopping his war. At the last moment Jenny jumped in front of me. I couldn't save her," explained the Doctor sombrely, "she died in my arms. I should have taken her away from there. I should have waited. I knew in my soul that she would regenerate but at the time I was blinded to it."

"It wasn't your fault, Doctor and remember she's here now and she needs you!" said Jack, soothingly.

"I know," said the Doctor, more positively, looking back up at Jack, half smiling.

At that moment there was an unexpected knock on the door. Both the Doctor and Jack looked around to see who it was. Standing there was Gwen. Jack instantly waved her in.

"Any news?" asked the Doctor, urgently, jumping from his seat, as she came through the door.

"Yes, she's awake. She's asking for you," she replied.

Instantly, the Doctor rushed down the steps and across the hub, into the corridor, which led to the small ward where his daughter lay waiting for him. Jack and Gwen watched him leave. Gwen was taken by surprise by the sudden urgency that had taken over the Doctor.

"So how is she?" asked Jack as he moved from his seat and stood next to Gwen, who was still looking out of the door.

"She's fine but she has a slight headache," replied Gwen,

"And nothing else?" asked Jack, looking at Gwen.

"No, not what I could find anyway," she replied.

"Just like her dad then, tough as old boots," smiled Jack, as he started towards the door, followed by Gwen.