Chapter 10 – Fish and Chips

The situation was an absolute mess.

Jack had changed completely. He had ordered Martha to fix the Doctor's head as quickly as she could and then he had locked the Doctor in one of the cells, allowing no access to the area. He had been down there for five hours, now.

Martha knew locking the Doctor up would probably do more harm than good, but any attempt to reason with Jack had been brushed aside. She knew what this was doing to him, seeing the Doctor so unlike the Doctor. It was completely destroying Jack's soul – his sanity... and she understood. Not that it made it right.

"Jack, please let him out."

"No."

"He's not a threat. He just needs some time to piece back together his memory," Martha assured him. "You know that."

"Martha, he can't even write!" Jack pointed out, throwing his hands up in the air in exasperation.

"He'll remember."

"It's been five days, Martha! He's not remembering anything, he's just repeating what we're telling him as fact!"

"This isn't going to fix itself overnight," she insisted. "This'll take time..."

"Tell me, how can someone normal speak every language in the universe absolutely fluently but can't write a single goddamn letter of the alphabet!?"

"I don't know, but I'm sure there's..."

"A reasonable explanation!?" Jack completed as a partial question, almost laughing in disbelief.

"Yes, I do," she replied calmly.

"He's a lunatic right now! He's putting himself and all of us in danger!"

"That's not fair, you can't blame him for raging like that," Martha insisted. "It's not like we were being helpful or anything this morning."

"Stop defending him! You know as well as I do that we can't go on like this!"

"Are you suggesting we abandon him!?" Martha asked incredulously, appalled at Jack's words.

"I'm saying we need to take him to Unit!"

"What!? We can't take him there, not after last time..." Martha gabbled in surprise at his suggestion.

"I'm sorry but we just don't have the time or resources to deal with this totally crazy amnesiac alien! You know I'm right!"

"No, you're not!" Martha screamed back. "He's your best friend and he needs your help!"

"Get the hell out, I can't listen to this," Jack spat, waving a dismissive hand at her.

"You can't ignore this!"

"Right now I am, and I for one fell a lot safer now he's locked up in a cell."

"But..."

"He's a freak!" Jack yelled, slamming his hands on the table and jumping to his feet, gazing at her.

Martha instantly launched out an arm to grab his wrist, gripping it to blood stopping point as every ounce of adrenaline pumped into her body at his harsh words.

"His name is the Doctor and you bloody well know that," she grated, her voice now at an angry whisper as she gazed unrelentingly into his eyes. "Think about what you just said."

Jack swallowed, and quickly realised he'd let his mouth run away without his brain maintaining it. "I didn't mean that."

"Good. Because yes, he's an alien but he's also our friend, our best friend. He's the one that's helped us without question for all these years and now he actually needs you you're being incredibly unfair. If this happened to you he wouldn't give up on you, would he? Really."

Jack paused, swallowing, before finally muttering, "... no."

"Exactly. He likes talking to you, so talk back to him. One day he'll remember something, maybe not something big, but he'll remember something. It'll be the breakthrough and then we can get him back. He's my friend too, Rose is my friend, their kids called me Auntie Martha, and the amount of times he's saved our lives... the things he done for us. We owe him this. Don't give up on him, please."

Jack sighed. "You're right. I'm so sorry."

"I understand."

"I just... I just can't take this anymore."

"I know."

"It's... It's almost like he's dead. Every time I look at that guy I just see with every passing day my best friend as more and more dead. It's like I'm grieving for him already."

"I understand, but that needs to change."

"I know. I'm sorry."

"You shouldn't be apologising to me, Jack," Martha insisted. "That man sitting down in that cell right now was asking me this morning how to make him like you because you were rude to him. He really likes you, Jack. He's attached to you. And right now you could be his only hope."

Jack didn't meet her eyes. "I've ruined this, haven't I?"

"No. I'm not saying this is all your fault. It's been all of us giving him our expectations of what he should be like and false pretence every time we talk to him. This morning when he couldn't write his name I had to send him out of the room and that wasn't smart, I know. To be honest we're lucky he only did that, he could've done a lot worse. So consider this our wake up call, okay? Second chance, for everyone."

"Okay."

Everything was absolutely silent when Jack arrived at the cells. Even Janet the Weevil was quiet as he marched past her to the end cell where the Doctor was. Jack found him lying there on the drab bed, staring at the far wall in utter silence. His head was full of stitches from the amount of damage he'd caused himself, his hair still matted with dried blood as he clutched onto something in his hands.

"Doctor?" Jack asked quietly.

"Go away!" the Doctor responded angrily, snapping his eyes shut and curling up tighter.

Jack sighed, took a deep breath and keyed in the code to the door. With a beep, a hiss and a clunk the door swung inwards and he entered the cell. He left the door wide open, moving to the bed. The Doctor kept his eyes firmly shut, so Jack just sat down against the wall next to the head of the bed.

"... Thanks for sorting out my office," Jack eventually said. "I can find things now."

"Go away!" the Doctor repeated, curling up tighter.

Jack looked at him a little more. He was angry. Overly angry. As though he was forcing himself to be. "You're angry, I know. Why are you angry?" Jack wondered.

"Anger is the only way people listen to me!" the Doctor yelled back.

Jack swallowed. "No, it's not. It's really not. I've been a bit of a dick to be fair and you don't deserve it. I'm sorry. You shouldn't have to be angry to make people listen to you. I'm listening. What's going through your head?"

"Nothing!"

"What?"

"That's the point, nothing!" the Doctor whined. "I can't remember anything, everyone is telling me what I should do and I tried and it's just not working because of my stupid brain!"

He hit his head against the bed redundantly, his skull just bouncing off harmlessly.

"... Don't do that. Please."

The Doctor suddenly looked at him, watery eyes connecting with Jack's. He finally sat up on the bed, revealing he was still cradling the broken toy.

"I'm sorry," he finally said calmly, staring at the toy.

"I really don't mind you know," Jack assured him seriously. "It's just stuff. It's things. Material stuff that can be replaced." He gazed at the Doctor for a moment. "People can't. I forgot that for a while, I know. I'm sorry."

The Doctor sniffed and looked at him again. "And I'm sorry I got angry."

"Oh, don't be an idiot," Jack chastised. "I've had amnesia before, not this bad but I know what it's like. You're confused and scared, I know. People kept telling me all the things I was supposed to remember and I just got agitated that I couldn't. I got angry with them, and with myself. We're not exactly helping you by telling you what you're supposed to do, either. That's not fair. But we'll sort this. Don't feel bad; this isn't your fault. This is the fault of whatever big and powerful thing that did this to you is."

The Doctor didn't reply.

Jack got up and sat next to him on the bed. "From now on when you talk, we listen. I promise. Okay?"

"Okay," the Doctor muttered. He looked so lost and lonely sitting there.

Jack reached forward to hug him, and the Doctor responded in kind.

"I want to remember. I sound so happy," the Doctor murmured over Jack's shoulder.

Jack drew away, cupping the Doctor's cheek and gazing into his eyes, his voice low and measured. "It'll come when it'll come. In all my wisdom I forgot the most important thing – while you're like this, you're not him. You're your own person. And we need to respect that. This is mad for all of us, but it's far worse for you, I know. So I've got a proposal. Let's be normal."

"What?" the Doctor asked, wiping at his eyes.

Jack broadened a grin. "How about some fish and chips?"

The smell was what hit the Doctor first; the pure smell of fish and chips wafting out of a tiny shop on the corner near the Hub.

"C'mon," Jack said, taking the Doctor's arm and pulling him into the shop.

There the Doctor was greeted by strange new sights and sounds, the hiss and spit of the deep fryers and the radio pumping out the latest music. There was a woman behind the counter, who looked up on their entry and smiled.

"What'll it be?" she asked in a vibrant Welsh accent.

"I'll have cod and chips, and... Doctor?"

"What?"

Jack laughed at his deer-caught-in-headlights expression. "Food. What d'you want to eat?"

He gestured to the board, and the Doctor stared at it for a long while, frowning.

"What does a... battered sausage taste like?" he asked.

"Nice," Jack responded. "It's a deep-fried sausage."

"What does that taste like?"

"Err... Like a deep-fried sausage...? I can't explain it."

They were interrupted by a very loud, pronounced sigh from behind them. Slightly stunned, Jack turned to find a large, muscled man standing there behind them staring at his watch pointedly.

Jack's eyes narrowed. "We'll be a minute." He turned back to the board. "You usually got the large chicken nuggets and large chips," he told the Doctor.

"What's a nugget?"

"Oi, tell your scrut of a friend to hurry the fuck up," the man snapped.

Jack looked back, beginning to feel a bit irate now. "Hey, he's got severe amnesia. Give us a minute."

The man sighed, and fell silent. Jack was about to turn back before the man suddenly spoke again...

"Pidin tarw."

Jack stopped abruptly in mid-movement. "... What did you just say?" he asked, already knowing perfectly well what he had said but not quite being able to believe that he had.

"Jack!?" the Doctor asked anxiously.

"Stay back, Doctor," Jack warned, holding out an arm.

The man suddenly laughed boisterously. "Oh, he's a doctor! It gets better and better!"

Jack's eyes narrowed. He couldn't stop this now. It had been a very long time since he'd had a public fight, and he had had many in his time. It was clearly time for another, to protect the Doctor's dignity.

So he rolled up his sleeves, preparing himself. "Let's take this outside," he grated to the man.

The man just grinned a toothless grin in response. "Go on, then, twll tin!"

"Jack!" the Doctor wailed, but the two were already moving outside and crowds of interested people were beginning to gather. The Doctor followed, but couldn't watch, dropping to sit down on the step and covering his head with his hands.

"Hey butty, you all right?" a voice asked. The Doctor looked up, finding a young beautiful blonde woman looking down at him sympathetically.

"No," the Doctor whined, covering his head again.

Without any invitation, she sat down next to him. "My name's Cerys," she said by way of introduction. "What's yours?"

"... Doctor, I'm the Doctor," he replied, daring to look at her again.

"Doctor? Really?" she asked, a little surprised and amused at the same time. In return he looked a bit stunned at her reaction, and she smiled a reassuring smile, before her eyes flickered up to his head, cut, bruised and stitched up.

"So what's your story?" she asked. "You look like you need a doctor rather than being one."

"My story?" the Doctor queried.

"Your head, what happened to it?" she reiterated. "And the vacant expression?" she added, laughing.

"Oh," the Doctor realised. "My head isn't right."

"What d'you mean, butty?"

"I can't remember things," the Doctor muttered. "I was someone before but I don't remember him."

"Oh, that's so sad," Cerys said quietly, taking his hand. "So you mean you hit your head and don't remember who you are? Like in that film?"

"Jack says someone really bad and powerful did it to me."

Cerys' jaw dropped. "Were you like, a secret agent or something? Like a spy?"

The Doctor frowned. "I don't know."

"I bet you were. You were doing government stuff and the other side got you and had to wipe your memory! I bet that's what happened! I mean, you've got a code name and everything."

She looked exceptionally pleased with her reasoning. Although he didn't really understand what she was talking about, the Doctor quickly began to find himself liking her. She had a peculiar way of closing her eyes tightly every time she laughed.

"So where do you live, Doctor?" she asked, still smiling.

The Doctor frowned. He really had to think about that for a moment. "Over there," he ended up saying, pointing at the Plass. "It's called the Hub."

"Oh!" she realised. "It must be somewhere really technical where they take injured spies, right? I get it."

"Must be," the Doctor supposed, quite calm now.

"Do they let you have visitors?" she wondered after a moment's pause.

"I don't get visitors," the Doctor replied.

"What? Don't you have any family or anything?"

"I have a wife, she's blonde and pretty," the Doctor told her, less as a description of a person and more of a bullet point list of features. "And a daughter. I don't know what she looks like. I think I have another one too 'cause everyone says kids, not kid. I don't remember them. Everyone else thinks they're dead."

"Oh, that's so sad," Cerys repeated, resting a hand on his shoulder. "Maybe... Maybe I can be your visitor?"

He widened a smile back. "That'd be nice."

The distant sounds of police sirens was what quickly caused the crowd to disperse like kids in the playground running from a teacher, and Jack appeared moments later.

"That was fun," Jack's voice enthused suddenly, moving towards them before he realised... "Doctor? Who the hell is this?"

"This is Cerys," the Doctor said quickly, getting up.

"... So I see," Jack muttered.

"Are you okay?" the Doctor asked anxiously, reaching up to look at his cuts and bruises from the fight.

"Fine," Jack dismissed, batting away his hand and glaring at Cerys. "C'mon, Doctor. Gotta go."

"But..." the Doctor began, looking at Cerys who was sat there looking up at the Doctor dreamily.

"We're going," Jack grated, yanking his arm to pull him across the Plass to the Hub.

"Bye, Doctor!" Cerys yelled, waving.

"Bye!" the Doctor called back as Jack pulled him around the corner, marching him down the slope through the shop, past a confused Ianto and in to the Hub. Jack quickly shut the door and pushed the Doctor back against the wall.

"What were you doing?" Jack asked, harshly.

"Talking..." the Doctor replied, wide-eyed. He couldn't understand why Jack was upset.

"Do you know how dangerous it is for you to talk to random people? Did you tell her you're not human!?"

"No..."

"Did you tell her what had happened to you?"

"Yeah..."

"Did you tell her where the Hub is!?"

"I... Umm..."

"Doctor!" Jack urged.

"I pointed..."

"Ugh," Jack grunted, hand on his head. "What does she think you are?"

"She kept calling me a secret agent..."

"Well that's something at least," Jack sighed in relief, gripping the Doctor's good shoulder tightly.

"What's happened?" Martha asked, coming towards them.

"He's out having chats with random women about him and Torchwood!" Jack exclaimed, exasperated.

"Jack," Martha warned in a low tone. "Second chance."

Jack swallowed, nodded, and gathered himself together. "Sorry, Doctor. But you can't do that. After what happened with the Shadow Proclamation, Earth really doesn't like aliens. If anyone found out about Torchwood, us, or that you're not human... MI5 would be down on you like a sack of bricks and next thing you know you'll be chained up in a basement somewhere being experimented on and I don't think I could live with myself."

"I'm sorry."

Jack sighed. "No, not your fault, I should've told you."

"If I don't tell Cerys about that can I still see her?" the Doctor asked quietly.

Jack glanced at Martha, frowning. "Why do you want to see her?"

"Because she was nice."

"Doctor..." Jack muttered, apprehensive. "Do you like, like her?"

"What does that mean?"

"I mean... Do you want to really get to know her?"

"I guess," the Doctor supposed.

"No."

"What?"

"Doctor, you... you love Rose, all right?"

The Doctor was beginning to get frustrated. "No, I don't."

Jack's jaw dropped. "What? But you do!"

"How can I love someone I've never even met?" the Doctor whined. "You say I love her but I don't even remember what she looks like!"

"I told you, she's..."

"She's pretty and blonde!" the Doctor cried, exasperated. "What colour are her eyes?"

"They're brown!"

"What does she wear?"

"She..."

"Does she have a nice laugh? Does she have any cute habits? What's her personality like? Is she a good mother? And what about Leah? What's her favourite toy? Do I have any other children? What are their names? What do they look like?"

Everything suddenly fell very quiet.

"All right," Jack finally said. "Follow me. I've got something to show you."

A/N: Yay, review reply now! We're picking up speed, though it probably doesn't look like it right now :P