Chapter 9: The Awakening

A/N: Soo sorry about the long wait! I've been doing school work and haven't gotten the chance to just sit down and write. Thanks again to those who reviewed, and hope you guys enjoy this chapter!


Jack found he couldn't sleep. There was no use, he just couldn't shake off the grief he had due to Donna's incident. He couldn't stop thinking of her, of her condition, the kiss. That kiss. No! He shook his head. This wasn't the time for that. He wandered the Torchwood building until he found himself back at Donna's side in the medical bay.

He watched her there, sleeping away. Pulling up a chair, he sat himself down and took her hand. What was she thinking about? Could she think consciously? Or was it more like dreaming? Was she going to be angry when she awoke? Jack couldn't handle not knowing. It was all a bit much for him.

Martha pulled a seat up next to Mickey. She could see what everyone was doing; The Ponds were chatting to Ianto and Gwen, River and The Doctor had just left the medical bay – River comforting the Doctor just outside the room. Inside was Jack, still sitting, waiting.

Martha shook her head. "The poor guy – look at him!" she pointed to the grief stricken man. "It's like she's in a coma or something. All signs say she's fine physically, other than the state."

Mickey let out a deep breath. Other than the day they rescued the planets, he never got much of chance to meet with Donna. "What else can he do? He's in love and she's… basically dead."

Martha shook her head. "Not dead, in a coma."

"Either way she's not moving other than her breathing." He turned to her. "I mean, if I were in a coma, what would you do?"

Martha looked deep into Mickey's eyes. What would she do? "Try to help? I don't really know, I've never thought of it." She played with the ring on her finger. Last time they were close to being in that type of situation she had longer hair and were fighting Sontarans. That was the last time she had seen the Doctor. Adverting her eyes to him, he seemed to be in a terrible state too.

"I just hope she gets better. For everyone's sake." Martha squeezed Mickey's hand. He gave her a kiss before getting up. "C'mon. You look like you could use a cup of tea."

Amy and river had managed to convince the doctor into taking Jack out for a coffee at the coffee shop across in town. It had taken quite some convincing, and Martha reassuring the two Donna would be fine, but they finally succeeded.

Jack wrapped his hands around the cup of coffee while the doctor sipped some tea.

"I know how hard it is. To lose someone." The Doctor tried to level with Jack. "I've lost many people over the years. You wouldn't believe how many people have come and gone. I'd like to visit them all, but… well… you know me."

"If you know, then why were you so against us?" Jack took a sip.

The Doctor wasn't impressed with the question. "I told you already; there was a possibility of her dying – almost certainly her mind would have burned and she would have died. I lost her once; I didn't want to lose her again."

"I understand wiping her mind was the only way to save her, but didn't you want to visit her? She wouldn't remember you – especially now that you've regenerated!"

The Doctor was appalled at the question. "Of course I wanted to! I've visited Cheswick in hopes I'd bump into her. But there's always the chance she'd remember. You saw her remember me. I would never risk her life for that. I'm surprised you did."

Jack couldn't believe what the Doctor was saying. "Listen, you said it yourself; she didn't remember you as John Smith. She didn't remember me as Jack Goodman. She was fine until you showed up." He didn't want to bring up the incident on their first date.

"Of course, because it was my fault that I had to stop you from meeting with her again." The Doctor's voice became a bit louder.

"Look, I don't want to talk about this anymore. Can we just stop?" Jack crossed his arms. This wasn't turning into a good day.

"Fine." The Doctor sipped his drink.

The two stared out of the window for some time. The two finally calmed down and began talking to each other, keeping solemn moods.

"You know, I did enjoy having you in the TARDIS with me. It was rather… interesting… and fun." The Doctor smiled.

"It was fun being with you Doctor." Jack said.

Martha and Rory reviewed Donna's information.

"So you're a nurse. Nice to have someone else here who's in the medical field." Martha smiled.

Rory checked Donna's monitor. "Yeah. Nice to talk to someone who's actually a doctor."

Martha chuckled at the joke. Rory's expression changed, causing Martha to pay more attention to the monitor.

"What's going on?" she asked.

Rory diverted his eyes from the screen to Donna. "Her heart beat's picking up." He observed the woman's expression changing from blank to in pain.

Martha and Rory raced around the room, trying to help Donna. Within a minute, her heart returned to a normal pace, her face relaxing. The two looked at each other in confusion.

"What was that?" Rory couldn't think of anything logical.

Donna began to groan and move on the stretcher as if awaking.

Martha turned to Rory. "Call the Doctor's cell phone!"

"But he never answers it!"