The Doctor half-jogged, half-walked through the Institute, grabbing random pieces of Timelord technology has he proceeded towards the exit. Jack flat-out ran to the elevator, the TARDIS close behind. Jack stepped in first, eager to reach the surface. The TARDIS stepped in after him, ready to take revenge for what had been done to her; to Romana.
The Doctor approached behind them, but stopped when he heard Alex call his name. "You two go on." He gestured to Jack and his TARDIS, "I'll meet you at the surface."
The Doctor turned back to Alex and Abby. "Doctor," Alex began, "You have to go now. But you have to know, Rose- none of that was your fault! You were brainwashed."
"I know. Now, if that's all, I'll be going now."
The Doctor turned to leave, but he was caught by Abby's voice. "Doctor?"
-Meanwhile-
Jack watched as the TARDIS not-as-subtly-as-she-thought squeezed away from him, in the far opposite side of the elevator. "What, is my immortality really that horrifying to you lot?"
The TARDIS laughed. "No it's just-" she dug around in one of the trench coat's many bottomless pockets until she dug out a vortex manipulator identical to Jack's, but older looking. It exploded in her hand, and she jumped forwards into Jack. "-that. Same object, different points in its own time zone. Explosion." She stepped away from Jack, but not as far.
"Wait- oh, great, you just blew up my vortex manipulator. Great. Just great."
"Hey! You still have it, that was just the future one."
They sank back into perpetual awkward silence.
"So, Romana, who are you?" Jack questioned.
"I don't know."
"What do you mean?"
"I remember being Romana, traveling with the Doctor, but it's almost like they aren't my memories. I look in the mirror and see Romana, but I search my memory and we're just not the same."
"I know what you mean. Coming back to life, it takes me a while to remember who I am. It's like I'm someone else, trying to piece together the identity of Jack Harkness. I don't remember why, but I see people and it sparks up emotion, which leads to memory."
"I see Alex, and something about Romana makes me hate him, but I as an individual want to trust him. Romana loved the Doctor, but I'm not sure how I feel. About any of this. I just don't know about any of this." The TARDIS looked up at Jack through tear-stained eyes.
"Hey," Jack took the TARDIS in his arms, "it'll get better. You'll see."
The TARDIS leaned against Jack, desperate for a friend. "Romana may detest you and your fixed-point-ness, but I trust you, if only because I remember who you were before Bad Wolf."
"Great. You hate me, but you trust me. That's comforting." Jack laughed, as the elevator doors open. "I think this is our stop."
-Meanwhile-
The Doctor turned back, "huh?"
"Your TARDIS. You're lucky to have her." The Doctor saw a look of something he didn't recognize in the timelady's red-vortex eyes.
"I know."
"Seriously, though. She could've abandoned you for the Master at many times in her life. She didn't."
"I know. That git can get his own TARDIS."
"That's exactly what I'm saying. He needs a human TARDIS. My sister refuses to comply. I want to get out of this hell-hole. I think I'm going to take him up on his offer."
Alex turned slowly, "Wait, what? Hate to break it to you, but you're my TARDIS, bonded for life. You're stuck with me."
The Doctor watched as Abby smiled sadistically. "It's funny, how, a bond for life can be broken so easily."
"What do you-"
Abby smiled as she fired the staser, running off in a blaze of light.
