A/N: I'm updating so quickly 'cause I'm bored at work so please send me reviews to read! Welcome to Cap'nSparrow and Shadarus, new recruits are always welcome and Shadarus I'm flattered that you've stuck with me. I know what you mean long fics. sometimes you just can't get invested. So thank you for sticking around. And to everyone else that's still lurking in the shadows, thank you for coming back. There's only four more chapters after this one I promise!

So we finally know who the evil witch is but will the Doctor be saved? Let's find out shall we...?

Chapter 14

Elizabeth Hartman stood over the Doctor and huffed. She slapped his face, trying to wake him but it had no effect.

"I think he's taken all he can, Miss Hartman." Professor Rivers told her.

"Fine, lets try some more of those drugs out on him; see if they have any effect."

"With all due respect ma'am how will that help you get into his ship?"

"It won't." She turned to the scientist with a cold glare. "You see Rivers, he didn't save my sister so I want to make him suffer, whether he's awake or not."

"That's not the reason we're here."

"No, I am the reason you're here! You will do exactly what I pay you to!"

"I really wouldn't do that." A male voice rang from the door way.

Elizabeth and the scientist both looked up and saw four figures stood aiming guns at them.

"Jack Harkness isn't it?" Elizabeth said.

"Normally I'd be flattered that you know me but you see; a woman torturing a friend is a bit of a turn off. Now step away from the Doctor or I will shoot you."

"Jack." Rose hissed.

"You're going to shoot me?" She smirked.

"Don't test me, you only get one warning." Jack told her.

"Rivers? The next syringe please."

"Don't you dare, Rivers." Owen called, moving the aim of his weapon to the scientist.

"Look, killing two people isn't going to make much difference to me, it's not the first time and it wont be the last but it will put a dent is someone's day somewhere and I'm not always a good aim so it might take a while for you to die. So lets all save time shall we?" Jack cocked his gun.

Elizabeth laughed and moved to the surgical table, picking up a syringe. "You can't do a thing. I'm the head of this branch. Wage war on me and you'll have the whole of Torchwood at your front door."

"Well now that would be a tad more threatening if you actually were the head of Torchwood. You see we're on to your little game. This isn't an official Torchwood. You have no authority here or anywhere." Gwen told her.

"You've done your homework."

"You clearly haven't. Kidnap the Doctor and leave Rose behind. Very shoddy recon." Jack tutted.

"Rose?"

"Yeah me." Rose stepped out from her place behind Jack.

"You're not meant to be here. You're dead."

"Should check your facts more closely. They never found my body."

"Well maybe once I'm finished with the Doctor I can rectify the situation. After all now you're here you won't be going anywhere."

"Last warning bitch! You take one step towards him and I will shoot you in the fucking head!" Jack shouted.

Rose felt herself shaking as her gaze flicked between the woman and the lifeless Doctor. He was covered with a green sheet from the neck down and looked even more pale than normal. She was brought back to the showdown with a loud bang.

"Stupid bitch." Jack said simply as the woman slumped to the floor.

"Jack!" Gwen shouted running to the woman's side.

He just looked at her impatiently "What? I gave her two warnings."

Gwen raised her eyebrows at his cavalier attitude to having just shot an unarmed woman.

"Hey, two warnings was generous!" He then turned his attention to River's. "You. Go. Now. Just leave, don't look back and if you even think about sending anyone up here after us you won't make it to the outside."

Rivers nodded and hurried out the door.

"She's dead." Gwen stated sadly. "Who was she?"

"No time to care right now."

"Doctor!" Rose snapped from her shock and rushed to his side, she whipped the cloth from him, tears burning her eyes as she looked him over. "What have they done to you?"

"Gwen, get back downstairs to Tosh and get the hell out of here. Don't go via the basement. Use a fire exit the alarms won't be working with the power down. Tosh, is there any chance of bringing this place down?"

"I think I can make a power surge strong enough to cause a fire."

"Great do it. How's he doing?" Jack called over.

The Doctor's head rolled towards Rose. "Three turns. Press." He wheezed, relief spreading through him.

"What does that mean?" Owen asked her, tugging on the leather restraints that were holding the Doctor to the table.

Rose shrugged and looked him over again.

"Home." Came the wheeze again.

"Either he's doing an impression of E.T or he means the TARDIS." Jack said keeping watch on the corridor as Gwen made her way back to an exit. "And it looks like our little friend didn't keep quiet, we've got company."

"Gwen!" Owen hissed.

"Other direction. Gwen? Let me know the minute you start the car engine!" He told her through the earpiece before running to the Doctor's side. "Shit! It looks like they did an autopsy."

"Not one of mine. My stitching is neater." Owen grunted freeing the last restraint as Rose grabbed anything related to the Doctor from the room and rammed it into the backpack.

"Jack?!" Rose froze as shadows surrounded the door frame.

"Let's get the Doctor home Rose!" He hoisted the Doctor onto his shoulder as he and Owen aimed their guns at the door.

Rose took her cue and turned the top of the screwdriver three times and pressed the button. Almost immediately the comforting wheezing of the TARDIS filled the air as it began to materialise around the four of them and bullets ricocheted off the protection shield that surrounded the ship.

XxXxX

"Owen get in here!" Jack yelled as he laid the Doctor on the medical table. Looking up at the door he growled in frustration as no one appeared. "I'll be right back." He told Rose as he stormed out the room.

"Hello you. You're causing trouble again." She whispered in the Doctor's ear, smoothing his hair away from his face.

"Yes, it's bigger on the inside, yes it's very pretty but there's plenty of time to deal with that, right now you have a patient that needs attention." Jack said marching a shocked looking Owen through the doors. "Now I'm going to try and get this baby back to Torchwood. Rose, you have my complete permission to slap him if he loses concentration."

"Yes sir!" Rose saluted.

"And trust me Harper, from what I've heard; if she slaps anything like as hard as her mother, you'll lose most of your teeth!" Jack winked at Rose and headed back to the control room.

"Okay, anything I need to know?" Owen asked.

"Um, he has two hearts and he can go without oxygen for a while."

"Respiratory bypass?"

"Yeah. Oh and he's allergic to everything that resembles aspirin."

"Excellent." Owen rolled his eyes. "Just sit back, relax and watch an artist work." He grinned at her.

She knew he was flirting with her and right now she didn't care, as long as he fixed the Doctor.

XxXxX

Ianto backed towards the exit as a wheezing sound filled the hub and the air began to whip around him. He watched frozen to the spot as a blue light faded into view then jumped out of his skin as Gwen and Tosh burst into the room, almost tripping over themselves and him.

"What is that?" He asked.

"That would be Jack and co. He said he'd get here when we did." Gwen told him, panting from her dash down the stairs.

"It sounds like an elephant in distress." Toshiko said, staring at the blue box that was solidifying before their eyes.

"It sounds like it's about to fall apart." Gwen pointed out as the door flung open.

"You coming in or not?" Jack asked poking his head out.

The three looked at each other before marching in.

"I'm going to check on the Doctor, try not to break anything."

XxXxX

"How's he doing?" Jack asked striding into the infirmary.

"I think he's starting to come round again." Owen said, checking the Doctor's heart rates.

"Doctor?" Rose whispered as his eyes began to flicker.

He opened his eyes, saw three blurred figures and began to panic. "No, no, no, no." He pushed himself off of the cold hard table, knocking something metal to the ground as he stumbled around. Shaking his head, trying to clear his vision he stretched his arms out in front of him and started to move around the room, panicking more and more.

"Doctor, it's okay, it's just us." Rose said moving towards him.

"No. Stay away from me. Leave me alone." He found himself trapped in a corner, not able to make out any of his surroundings. Trembling, he slid to the floor in defeat.

Rose looked at Jack who nodded at her, taking Owen out of the room.

"Doctor?" She felt a lump form in her throat as he covered his head with his hands making himself as small as possible. What had they done to him? He looked so fragile curled up on the floor in nothing but his underwear. Rose grabbed the Doctor's long coat and stepped towards him.

"It's okay. You're back on the TARDIS. It's just me." She soothed, wrapping his coat round him as he shook his head.

He flinched at the contact and Rose decided to take the bull by the horns. She sat facing him forced his face up and kissed him hard.

"Rose?"

"Hello." She smiled.

"I can't see properly it's all blurry. Everything hurts."

"Owen's going to fix you up." She pulled him into a hug, feeling his hearts hammering against her and his shoulders began shaking. Moving back she bent to look into his face and saw the tears dropping onto his cheeks. "Hey, what's all this for?" She hushed, tears misting her own eyes.

"I can't take much more." He croaked as he furiously wiped the tears from his face.

"Oh Doctor." Rose pulled him tightly to her and rocked him for a while before peppering his face with kisses. "It's over now." She took a few deep breaths to force her own tears back at bay. All she really wanted to do was feel him wrap his arms around her and let her cry but right now he needed her.

"Rassilion it's cold on this floor." The Doctor said after a while and shuddered.

Rose let out a small giggle as she helped him to his feet, supporting him and guiding him back to the medical table.

"Here, put these on."

The Doctor took what she had offered and held it up, squinting at it trying to make out what it was.

"They're your trousers." Rose smirked as he nodded. "Give them here." She bent down to the floor and pooled the trouser legs. "Right, step down." Pulling the trousers up his legs Rose began to laugh.

"What's so funny?"

"I always seem to be dressing you these days. It's enough to give a girl a complex."

"Sorry."

"Don't say that. It's not your fault. You'll be right as rain soon and you can make it up to me."

He knew Rose well enough to know that this was forced cheerfulness he just wished he could make out her expression.

She stood and did up his button and zip. "There. Better?"

The Doctor nodded mutely as he desperately tried to make out her features, he wanted to see her so badly. Instead he reached out with his fingers and ran them down the side of her face and across her lips before laying his hand to rest on her cheek. Rose pressed a kiss to his palm and laid her own hand over his.

"Everything alright in here?" Jack's concerned voice came from somewhere over Rose's shoulder.

Rose felt the Doctor tense and begin to tremble again. "It's only Jack. Don't you recognise his voice?"

"Too much buzzing going on up here." He tapped a finger to his temple. "There's so much electricity in my system it's blocking signals so you all sound robotic, like when your mobile goes wrong. That's why everything's blurry."

"Better get Owen in here." Rose turned to Jack.

XxXxX

Gwen stood at the end of the main corridor frozen to the spot. She'd walked down the zigzag hallway from the control room following Jack as he rushed to check on the Doctor; passing a few doors as she went but as she stepped through the last archway she couldn't help but gasp. There was gallery after gallery of doors, with large spiral staircases linking one floor to the next and corridors disappearing off at regular intervals. It reminded her of a posh shopping centre with a large dining hall in the middle on the ground floor. But instead of tables there was a small oasis with trees and colourful plants, a fountain and a two-seater bench. The walls and hand rails were in the same material as the control room and they swirled and twirled around the area like a creeping vine.

"Impressive huh?" Jack stood beside her.

"I've never seen anything like it. But how does it work? I mean it's tiny on the outside but inside it looks like an entire city could take up residence."

"Ah well that's where I blind you with science. The TARDIS is transdimensional; the inside is in a completely different dimension to the outside."

"So how many rooms are there?"

"No idea. Don't think even the Doctor knows. So far I know there's my room, Rose's room, the Doctor's room, a living room, kitchen, at least three bathrooms, a swimming pool, a cricket lawn, a giant wardrobe, oh I found another control room once, the infirmary, there's also an art gallery and a tonne of storage space."

"It's beautiful." Gwen breathed.

"Yes she is."

"Why do men do that? Whether it's a car or a boat or a spaceship, it's always a girl."

"Well normally I'd agree with you but the TARDIS is very definitely a girl. And as you say a beautiful girl at that. Specially for her age."

"You talk about it as if it's alive."

"She is. The Doctor will take great pleasure in telling you how a TARDIS comes to be. But she isn't built, she's grown. And she's over 900 years old."

"Right. Okay." She nodded and Jack smiled to himself. It was the first time he's ever been able to show anyone the inside of the TARDIS and he surprised to find he was feeling proud of the ship, like it was his home.

"So how's he doing?"

"Owen's had to sedate him. He was very confused. He doesn't like resting so his concussion isn't getting any better and the electric shock treatment they gave him hasn't done his already frazzled body any good."

"What happened to him before he got here?"

"I already told you, he got electrocuted; fell and hit his head."

"Electrocuted by what?"

"The TARDIS. The control panel short circuited while he was leaning on it."

"Ouch." Gwen screwed her face up and flexed her hands.

"Yeah you could say that. He's burnt all the way up his arm and one of his shoulders. It's not pretty."

"Is he going to be okay?"

"Oh he's been through worse. And he hasn't regenerated so I think he's going to be just fine."

"Regenerated?"

Jack looked at her and smiled, that little bubble of pride and excitement forming in his stomach again. "Time Lords have this thing where if their body is too damaged, you know fatally wounded then they regenerate. They can change every cell of their body to prevent death. He's a lot cuter than when I last saw him. Although he had something then too."

"Got a little crush have you, Jack?" Gwen teased.

Jack just chuckled. Gwen noticed how much more relaxed he seemed on the TARDIS and found herself wondering if he would stay there rather than return to Torchwood.

"On my first day you said you needed the right sort of Doctor. You were talking about him weren't you?"

He nodded his gaze turning back to the view in front.

"How long did you spend here?"

"Not long enough." Jack sighed, his voice betraying him. "This place, these people, they get into your blood. They challenge and change the way you look at things so that you'll never be the same again."

"What did they change about you?"

"Everything."

XxXxX

Next time:

"Bollocks." The Doctor muttered

Coming soon:

"Oi, I want a word with you!" A voice rang out over the speakers, cutting the music dead.

"No, it can't be." The Doctor spun around looking for the source of the noise.

"What the hell have you done with my daughter?!"

A/N: Four more chapters to go folks and then it's over, if you guys can bare to keep on reading. I hope so, you've all be really lovely. In fact I'd go so far as to say you're all probably the nicest people on Fanfiction. On other pages no one talks to each other or bother reviewing at all. So thank you all. I don't really need to remind ya bout that little button again do I?! ;-)

"Catch ya on the flip flop!"