Grace POV

I was awoken by being jolted about roughly and hitting a hard surface with a thud that made my head hurt and my ears ring. At first, I had no idea where I was, my senses just registered that everything was shaking and moving. My mind was slow. My first thought was an earthquake. But of course it couldn't be an earthquake. I was lay on my front, my ear to the floor. I was cool on my sore face; I vaguely remember being punched. There was a soft purring that I realised was a car engine. So I was in a moving car. I gasped involuntarily as the pain from all over me hit. My arm was burning and I hissed as I try to take my mind of it.

Moving slowly, I raised myself up with my one good arm. My side stung from what I imagined would be bruises when I looked. I didn't remember much, just that I had fought with that soldier and had hurt myself a lot, although he didn't go without his fair share of injuries and I think I was stunned afterwards, that would explain the bruises. I lent back against a metal wall; I was most certainly in a car. At first, I had to blink a bit because my sight was dotted with white, but it soon recovered. I looked down to my hand that was dripping blood, broken no doubt. I tried not to move it. Dried blood was on my cheek where the skin had split. My breath caught in my mouth as I saw Jack lay beside me, eyes closed, skin white and lips blue. I bent down instinctively and shook his shoulders,

"Wake up Jack!" I muttered, surprised how strained my voice was. I gasped when a deep voice replied,

"Hit his head pretty hard, love. He got internal bleeding and a concussion by the looks of it; don't think he'll make it". I looked around for the source of the voice to discover I was in the back of the army truck, and a soldier was driving in the front. I reached for my gun to find it was gone. As were my other weapons, alien equipment and even my ear com device. I cursed and glared at the back of the man's head,

"Where are you taking us?" I demanded but he ignored me. I noticed there was a huge sheet of glass between the front and back of the car. Bulletproof no doubt. So we were prisoners now. As if my ears had understood what he said for the first time, I looked down at Jack and held my breath. Cautiously as I didn't really want to know, I put my hand to his neck to check for a pulse. His skin was cold and still. No pulse. I moved quickly. Putting my ear to his chest I heard nothing. His once soothing heartbeat was gone. Using my non-mangled arm, I pushed open one of his lids, revealing his once brilliant blue eyes that were now dull and dead. His pupils were tiny. I cursed. Any minute now he would revive; hopefully before we left the car.

"Dead yet?" spat the man. I scowled and answered him like it was obvious,

"No, he'll wake up soon". The man snorted. I scowled and asked in a pissed off tone,

"What exactly have we done to deserve this? Survived?" he snorted again and ignored me. I exhaled, fuming when I was startled as Jack gasped and jerked up into my arms. He was rasping for breath and holding on to me so tightly, it almost hurt. I couldn't imagine what it was like for him, reliving every death, feeling the pain again. His muscles were tense and despite him being much taller then me, he seemed to shrink against me. After I got over the shock, I felt a wave of pity and aching to comfort him wash over me. I lay my head on his shoulder and held him, whispering words of comfort to settle him.

"Hey, Jack, it's okay. I got you. You're back" they were hardly life saving but I couldn't think of what else to say to convince him. I was in agony, my head was pounding and my heart way weighed down, it was pretty hard to try and relief others from pain, although I would have given anything to have taken this curse from Jack. My heart went out to him for his pain. He calmed down and opened his eyes, releasing his death grip on me. I quickly inhaled while my lungs were able again. He kept his hands on my shoulders while he straightened his head and realised what happened. He was looking past me, closing his eyes sometimes as I imagined he locked away bad memories. I kept my arm tight against my chest, hoping to lessen the pain. I needed a sling and a brace for the broken bones to heal; it was times like this that I needed Martha. She had become a very important part of the team for sure.

"Bet you've got one hell of a headache" muttered the man in the front. It literally looked like Jack's ears pricked up and anger flamed in his face. I noticed the massive gash on his face had healed miraculously. As we couldn't stand under the low roof, so Jack knelt against the glass and all but threw his fist into it, splitting the skin on his knuckles but leaving the glass unharmed apart from a few blood smudges. He didn't curse or acknowledge the pain but I winced as his bones hit glass.

"Let us out of this car and give me my gun now" he bellowed so loud that I had to cover my ears while the man grimaced.

"Or what?" was the reply the man grunted without taking his gaze off the road in front of him. Jack spoke in a quiet voice with a musical tone that made him sound insane,

"I have had centuries of talking to people, picking up a few things here and there. I will batter my way through this glass, and believe me I won't die trying, and for, shall we say the rest for the year, every second I will torture you using different methods that I have learnt; pressing exactly the right buttons to cause you unforgivable agony until you will be grovelling at my feet whilst picking up the remains of your teeth and bones for me to kill you but do so I will not for I will let you die slowly, the worse possible way, believe me". The way his eyes shined in a way I have never seen and the way his mouth was curling slowly into a maniac grin that showed how much he enjoyed watching the man in front of him shrink and swear in fear. It was terrifying.

More horrific than any wild battle cry from a man, or deep roar of any beast was the way he breathed the word 'die', like he was praying. Yet as frozen with distress and alarm as I was, I found my eyes shining with credit and a grin spreading across my face for the amazing impressiveness of his words and how much unbearable truth there was in that deep silky voice. The man gulped and blinked a few times before ignoring Jack's comment and pushing down on the pedal harder. Before I could stop him, Jack began beating against the glass with his fists, droplets of blood splattered everywhere and my eyes widened in horror. The man reacted likewise and the car slowed drastically as every thud caused the man to move his head forward instinctively.

"Jack!" I said trying to reach out and stop him but he turned to me with vicious eyes, daring me to come closer and feel what he could do. I froze and he saw it because he softened his gaze, becoming Jack again.

"Stop…" I whispered and he frowned at me. There was silence as he studied my expression, looking for something. Whatever it was, he seemed to find it as he dropped his fist and put his hand to my cheek, half smiling. The man broke the silence in the front, his voice shaky,

"Stop it! I have orders to bring you back to The Empire after you destroyed my squadron. You can't get out of there so you should just hold tight, you're going straight to the lead governor, to Lord Edgar, our royal leader and commander of us all. He wishes to speak with you. I am under strict orders to not answer any questions, that's his job it is" he didn't seem as timid to the end, more proud. Jack grunted and looked at me for agreement.

"The Empire. Figures. Well, shall we like to meet with Lord Edgar, Kiddo?" he said, watching my choice curiously. I shrugged,

"It would be nice to get some answers. Perhaps we could help" I replied. He frowned,

"I was more hoping they would have a cure, after all, they survived over sixty years so they must have one. Do you?" he said shifting his gaze to the man in front. The man laughed once and replied,

"Aye. I'm glad you've decided to cooperate. Sit tight, the journey isn't much longer". Jack rolled his eyes. The man sounded like a cart-driver who had just given a couple of strays a ride in the back of his cart of hay. Jack turned to me and smiled half-heartedly. He liked the idea of getting answers and helping me, but being a prisoner wasn't his style. Or at least, I didn't think he liked it, but being Jack, you never know.

"You can't answer any questions then?" he asked, not taking his gaze off me. I watched him as he listened to the answer.

"Look pal. I have been selected to become a soldier because of my strength and build, but I don't have the heart of a murderer. As much as I want to help you, you have just slaughtered my best friends, made me come out into this infected god dam land and threatened to torture me when all I want to do is go home. I'm not in the mood for defying orders right now". His tone was serious and it must have gotten to Jack as his solid eyes turned to liquid and he tore his gaze away from me,

"I understand" was his only reply.

I put my hand over his on my cheek and felt the blood, hot and sticky on my palm, yet he didn't flinch from the pain. I frowned, tinted with pain for his wound and brought his hand down to look at his blooded knuckles. I sighed and kissed them, tasting the blood. The term kiss it better came to mind. It was like rusty metal. I looked up into his curious eyes, holding something else, was he gratuitous?

"You shouldn't have done that" I muttered, still looking at his hand. He didn't reply, just pulled his hand free to lift my chin up, allowing my gaze to rest on him.

"I'm surprised you care if I injure myself" he replied, voice low so the man in the front couldn't hear. I frowned,

"Of course I care. Can you not feel that?" I said my eyes flicking to his hand and back. He shrugged,

"I've felt worse so I guess it's not as bad". I frowned but smiled,

"Not a good thing" I breathed as I spoke. He was moving slowly closer towards me, so close that I could smell those 51st century pheromones and they made me dizzy when I breathed them in. I must have stopped breathing because when he was close enough that his arm brushed the blood-soaked material of my jacket that was wrapped around my battered arm I gasped more than I should have, mostly out of pain and he became more alarmed.

"Sorry" he kept chanting quietly as he carefully picked up my arm and pulled back the material, grimacing at the wound. I hissed a bit with the pain that felt like blades cutting into my skin. He sighed,

"He messed your arm up pretty bad. I'll have to sort this out" he said and his gazed flashed up to my face. I have must have shown my fear and disliking of his choice even though I knew it had to be done because his eyes softened and he kissed my forehead, "I'm sorry" was all he said before he sat me down and began to work.

A/N: Haha, I cannot do an intimidating Jack! plz review x