The simultaneous feel of dry land underneath her and the sight of the Doctor's face over her were two of the most beautiful things Donna felt she'd ever experienced. Too exhausted to move, she tried to smile at him.

"We're all ok," he said softly. But his eyes were very sad. Donna had come to trust the Doctor's eyes far more than his voice to reveal what he was really communicating.

"I was holding..." She tried to talk slowly in order to make her voice sound clearer, "the TARDIS. It was the TARDIS all along."

"I know," he replied briskly, sitting beside her. "I sent it to you."

"What?"

"I sent it to you. Two birds with one stone! The fairies needed to think I destroyed it. You needed something to keep you afloat. You're a genius, Donna!"

"Am I?"

"You wouldn't let me erase the Timelord genetics in your body, remember? That was how I sent the TARDIS to you. Stubborn old girl, she wouldn't go to just anyone!" He smiled fondly at his ship.

"Jenny and Jack?" Donna murmured.

The Doctor was silent for a moment, as if turning things over in his mind.

"Jack was banished somewhere. Seems to me in some warped way, the fairies want him safe. He won't like that. They got him out of here and we have to follow. Quickly."

"Jenny?"

"Donna...I need to get you into the TARDIS. Slowly. It's not good for you to move too much just yet but we can't stay here. I'll help you sit up and then..."

"Doctor. Where's Jenny?"

"She's safe. Come on, Donna. I've made enemies here. Got to see if the TARDIS can get us away."

Donna struggled to a sitting position, gasping at the pain in her shoulder.

"That could be dislocated," the Doctor said, "careful now. I can fix it."

"Don't you dare. Not without a good dose of...something."

"We'll go for good old fashioned 20th century medicine...if we can get back there."

"Very reassuring." Donna gritted her teeth and focused on moving towards the TARDIS door, step by step.

The ice melted in the instant that the sky cracked and now it was getting darker by the second. Whatever he had done was really bad, Jack knew that, but his vague compulsion to cancel out one wrong-doing with another had seemed the only option. And maybe in some weird way it had worked. ..

...if only the sky didn't keep darkening the way it was.

He would have sold his soul to know if Ianto was safe back in 2009.

He turned around without much idea of what to do next and nearly crashed into Jenny.

She was standing in front of him, shaking and drenched.

"Jenny...what are you doing here?"

"Father..." Jenny's teeth were chattering so much she could hardly speak, "he was holding me and he...he attacked one of the fairies with his screwdriver. She fell down into my spaceship and they both disappeared. He pushed this into my hand and I ended up here." She held up his Vortex Manipulator.

"That was you he was supposed to vanish. I knew he had a plan! The time energy from the fairy was enough to banish the ship."

"But it's still happening." Jenny pointed to the sky.

"No...that was me. I did some attacking of my own. Come on." He took her hand and looked around at the strengthening waves below the pier. "We can't get out of here until the Doctor gets back and puts this right."

"If he can get back."

"He will. I'm sure of it."

He wished he could feel as convinced as he sounded.

"You are not undressing me!"

"Donna...we have to get you warm. I'm helping you!"

"Whatever. You're not doing it."

The Doctor sighed and placed dry clothes beside her.

"Whatever you say. When you're in total agony from trying to undress by yourself, just remember I offered!"

"Fine. Turn around."

The Doctor returned to the TARDIS controls.

"For crying out loud!" He sounded furious as he glanced into a screen.

"What?"

"Jack. He's managed to create a crack in time and space in Cardiff. In 2007. As if they really need another Rift there and as if things aren't bad enough already!"

"Why 2007?"

"Oh, probably reasons best known to Jack. Maybe he felt we hadn't enough to worry about!"

"Can you fix it?"

"Can I fix it, get us out of here without being followed, tend to you and manoeuvre us through a Rift in time getting bigger by the minute?" The Doctor stared downwards, expressionless.

"'Course you can," Donna murmured in what she hoped was an encouraging voice.

"'Course I can," he muttered back.

The TARDIS hummed, a hum that rapidly became more of a buzz. It didn't sound right and the Doctor kept his hand pressed firmly on the controls. In a strange sort of way, it looked as if they were at odds with each other. Donna watched, fascinated at the interplay between the Doctor and his ship. There were no words, no body language, but the air was heavy with displeasure and something forceful, bitter.

"Are we moving?" she asked.

"Sort of."

Donna pushed herself upright, feeling almost suffocated by the air around her. The TARDIS had never made her feel like this before, as if she wanted to run outside.

"You're upsetting her," she told the Doctor.

"I know," he said quietly.

"Well..." She got up unsteadily, "bloody stop then! She knows what she's doing!"

"Sit down, Donna."

"Not until you tell me why she's angry with you."

The Doctor sighed.

"She wants me safe."

"What? I want you safe! What's happening?"

"It's 2007. Whatever Jack's up to. She doesn't want to go there because it's too much. On top of all this, too much messing with time. It's not good for her and that makes it twice as bad for me. But we can't stay here. Those creatures are capable of draining ever ounce of energy from the TARDIS."

"Well, tell her... or whatever your equivalent of telling her is...we can't survive here. If they disable the TARDIS, none of us survive."

"She's weak and confused," the Doctor said and his face was so pale, he could almost have been talking about himself. As he stepped sideways to reach for a lever, his movement was unsteady.

"Doctor...they're doing something now. Can't you feel it? They're attacking you both!"

"Nah, we'll get away first." He slammed his hands back on to the main controls. The TARDIS lurched and shook. Donna made her way slowly towards him as an idea started to take root in her mind.

"Doctor, just stop for a minute. I have an idea." She reached for a drawer. "Look! You told me these would work if something bad happened, that there was one for each of us. Let's give it a try, right?"

"We can't! If I can just get us back to Cardiff for 1869..."

"What?!"

"They built a tower! Can you believe it? A patch in the fabric of reality...best left alone...but oh no! Torchwood knows best! They build a tower so they can tear it apart even more!"

"Doctor, please. You're not making sense." Donna reached his side and put her hand on his, trying desperately to move it away from the controls. "Listen to me."

"No time for chit chat, Rose."

"Fine!" Ignoring her panic, Donna reached into the drawer. Beside her, the Doctor was suddenly quiet, almost as if deflated. His hands ceased their frantic hold on the buttons and merely rested there. The TARDIS was silent, as if holding her breath.

Donna tried again and managed eased his hands from the controls.

"Here, sit down before you fall down."

Trying to ignore her own aches, she manoeuvred him into a sitting position.

"What are you going to do?" He asked quietly and without much interest, as if she was merely showing him a trick that might or might not be interesting.

"Let's hope that sometimes Torchwood does know best, Doctor, ok?"