Remembering

Chapter 6

Previously:

He nearly tripped over when he saw Donna in his chair, staring wide-eyed at him, with tears running down her pallid face.

When Jack Harkness walked in on Donna Noble crying, he decided maybe it really was time for a much-hated late-night talk.


The silence weighed down on Jack like water, as if he was stuck at the bottom of the ocean – Never doing that again, he reminded himself – and he stood uncomfortably, knowing his eyes were still wide and stuck on Donna.

She hadn't moved since he'd entered, doing nothing to hide the tears that still dripped down her miserable face, her blue eyes fixated on his. Jack swallowed thickly, pushing away his shock as he stepped forward.

"Donna --?" he began. This seemed to push the redhead into action; she leapt off his chair and stood, back to him, as she scrubbed angrily at her face, wiping off her tears.

"Er…morning, Cap'n! Or should I say 'night', what time is it? Uh-huh, 3am! Well, we're both missing out on our beauty sleep, so maybe we should…yeah,"

She drew out the word through her teeth, and turned to face him, a grin spread over her face, "Nighty-night."

She sat down on his bed and sniffed slightly. She looked up and frowned when she saw Jack still standing there.

"Something bothering you --?" she started to say, only for Jack to sit beside her on the bed, uncomfortably close, and demand, "What's wrong, Donna?"

Donna's now-scary smile didn't falter. "Nothing," she assured him, "Why would anything be?"

He gave her a knowing look, "Donna. I have lived a long time. I have been with a hell of a lot of women, and I know when something is subtlety wrong. Meaning, I definitely know something is wrong when I walk in on a woman crying. So, please, share?"

Donna's eyes narrowed, the smile falling away as quickly as it came.

She didn't know what to say to him. He wasn't particularly the nicest to her, he yanked her away from her nice, normal, oh-so-human life and expected her to believe all this alien hoo-hah and he wanted her help to find some man called 'the Doctor'. She wasn't particularly fond of him herself; they were like chalk and cheese.

And yet…

Something in the very back of her mind told her he was a good man. He may come off as a con, a liar, a downright git, but he had a heart of gold, and he only wanted to help.

You've only known him for a couple of days, her voice of reason was saying.

Who cares, he's hot!, said the tiny part of her that still fancied him, and for some reason sounded a lot like Nerys, Say something 'cause you're sitting staring at him like a bloody fish!

Donna snapped back to the present to see Jack staring concernedly at her.

"Please, Jack," she said quietly, fidgeting, "I-I'm fine, really."

Jack tilted his head, smiling slightly, "Really?"

Donna blinked for a moment, before suddenly exploding, leaping to her feet, "Are you mad? Of course I'm not flipping fine! Why the hell would I be?!"

Jack's eyes widened at her sudden anger, and he could only watch as she ranted.

"You just waltz right into my life, and mess it all up, with these stories of aliens and other planets and two-hearted men in flying blue boxes that are bigger on the inside! You just come on in and tell me you've met me in the past, but I have absolutely no idea who you are, 'Captain' Jack Harkness! Yet you know me so well! And the idea that something out there –" she gestured wildly upward, "—has taken my memories, and half my life away scares the hell out of me! And you never ask! You're too concerned about finding your precious Doctor, and you and 'Torchwood' don't care who you stamp on to get to your goal, do you? Do you?! You just want what you want, and you don't seem to see that I am absolutely friggin' terrified! There is something out there that has got my memories, and may very well be after me and that just scares me to death!"

Donna finally stopped raving, her face flushed pink as she caught her breath, blinking away tears that had built up in her eyes. Jack sat in a stunned silence, blown over by the force of Donna's words. If he was honest, he was a little hurt that Donna thought they didn't care – of course they cared; they knew very well what she was doing for them and were grateful!

He finally got his mouth to obey his mind and speak, and said, "Donna, you know that isn't true!"

She looked at him, her eyes narrowed, "What?"

He stood up, moving to stand in front of her, his arms folded to match hers, "I do appreciate what you're doing. I know you think you were just living an ordinary life, but believe you me, Donna; I have seen some pretty brilliant things in my life and you are right up near the top of the list,"

Donna's frown deepened, although Jack saw a glimmer of appreciation in her eyes at this; maybe she hadn't had many compliments in her life (or the bits she could remember). Jack fought back a grin, trying to keep a serious face as he continued.

"And I know this is scary – I mean, it's huge! But, you've got to know you can tell me when something's wrong. We're not doing this just to find the Doctor. The last time I met you, you were fantastic, brilliant, amazing, and you saved the whole of reality; and I don't see why you shouldn't know what you did and I want you to remember. I know what it's like not to have your memories…"

Donna's eyebrows shot up, and she fidgeted with curiosity, but let Jack continue.

"And I know the desperation you must feel – not knowing what you did, if you were incredible, or not-so-incredible. Not knowing if you did something awesome, or terrible. Not knowing if you were life-changing, or just a lazy idle human…I get that, Donna!"

She blinked at him for a moment, before swallowing thickly and whispering in a tiny voice, "I'm so scared, Jack…"

He stepped forward and wrapped his arms tightly around the trembling redhead, rubbing her back comfortingly as she clung to him fiercely. He didn't say anything – they both knew he didn't have to say any more.

After a few minutes, Jack pulled away and smiled down at her, wiping a few stray tears off her face.

"I think you should get some rest now," he told her gently, "We have a long day tomorrow,"

"Technically, it is tomorrow," Donna pointed out, giggling as she rubbed off the remaining tear tracks. She then looked him in the eye and said emotionally, "Thank you, Jack,"

He smiled down at her, "You know I'm gonna look after you, yeah?"

She nodded, smiling.

Jack's grin, if possible, grew a little and, without really thinking, he leant down and pressed a kiss to her forehead, "Goodnight, Donna."

Donna blinked, slightly surprised, but couldn't force the smile off her face. As Jack reluctantly let her go and left the office, Donna climbed back into bed, still smiling and suddenly exhausted. She was asleep almost as soon as her head hit the pillow.

Her dreams that night were similar to the ones she'd been having for days now. Dreams of weddings, huge red spiders, little fat marshmallows floating above London and huge volcanoes erupting; the screams of the dying filling her ears…

This one was no different. There were strange creatures with long tentacles in their mouths, a tall man in a trench coat with a pained expression on his face, a heartbreakingly tragic song…

Then, the dream flipped forward and Jack was there, looking down at her with that huge smile that made Donna's heart and stomach overturn excitedly.

For one moment, Donna Noble knew she was brilliant.

Then, her eyes opened and she was back in Jack's office, the demonic alarm on the side beeping manically.

Damn. Always at the good parts…


I LIKE IT.

Probably only because my sister wrote the ending for me, due to severe head-banging, wall-punching, crotch-kicking writer's block. :(

Lmao

Anyway, apologies for the long wait – moving to Sweden and stuff takes time xD. And, we've been Internet-less for a while -commits suicide- but I'm BACK. Most of my time has been spent watching S1 and 2 of "Torchwood", and the first, like, 7 episodes of "Doctor Who" S4 and even S2, so I'm very much so "Doctor Who"-eed out.

Anyway, NOW the Donna/Jack-ee-ness can REALLY start.

WAHOO.

Please review to keep me sane. :)

Short summary for next chapter…:

Next Time: Jack goes to desperate measures to make Donna remember, leading to an unfortunate collision with one of my sister's disciples, the Weevil Janet.

Y'know, after studying "Torchwood" S1&2, I still haven't figured out WHERE you discover Myfanwy's name.

Huh.

Am I missing something??

FOR THE RECORD, "Exit Wounds" – 4th most depressing thing in my liiiifffeee!
4) "Exit Wounds" 3) The day I told my friends I was leaving England 2) "Journey's End" 1) The day I left England and my friends.

Anyway, YEAH, review. xD

And you've heard about my sister's name change, yes?