Wow, I haven't updated in ages! Sorry about that. A lot's been happening, and it took me a while to get this chapter right. BUT that should be so much easier from now on, thanks to my lovely new beta Cricket-And-Crumpets. I feel so grown up, having my own Beta Reader! So professional! So loads of thanks to Beth and also a little word of apology to PlutoForPlanethood04 - sorry about the wait and well done for not nicking your sister's computer and reading it early! Unless you did read early, then I give you evil eyes.

Anyway, everyone please enjoy and review!

Chapter Twenty One- Take It Easy

Okay, this had officially crossed the boundary into weird. Just plain strange, and for a situation to reach that level was a great achievement; not much shocked her nowadays, after travelling with the Doctor.

One minute Donna had been happily chatting to one of the fittest people she had ever seen (with an accent to die for!), then all of a sudden this American stranger had burst in, beaming at her and looking as though he were about to cry. And then, bringing up the rear, was the Doctor, looking exhausted, ruffled and panicked.

"Um... Hi!" She said, trying her hardest to sound casual when in fact she felt a little scared, "So this is Jack, then?"

She waved a hand at the stranger (who was, admittedly, quite handsome, although he looked like he hadn't slept in weeks).

The man's face fell. "But..." He choked, and took a step towards her. His eyes were wild, "Donna, It's me!"

She wracked her brains, trying desperately to place him. Oh god, what if he was someone important? What if he was some alien president or something she was supposed to know about? Why?,she scolded herself, Why don't you ever listen to the Doctor when he goes off on one of his speeches?

"Right!" She said with a little laugh, as if this were a perfectly normal conversation to be having. "You!" Her smile faded. "You being...?"

xx

Many things had shocked Jack over the years, but never anything quite so much as this. It literally felt like someone had seized his heart and was now unceremoniously attempting to rip it from his chest. It was killing him. How could she not know him? She knew the Doctor, didn't seem affected by that. So why him?

"It... it's me!" He cried, trying and probably failing to keep his voice steady, "Jack, your Jack, Jack Harkness!"

How could he make her understand? He took a step towards her, but to his horror she backed away.

"Alright, listen." She said shakily, "I dunno what's goin' on 'ere, but I've never seen you before in my life. So just... take it easy, alright mate?"

This was too much. He turned to the Doctor, at this moment the man he hated more than anything. Because he had done this. He was responsible - he had to be.

"What did you do?" Jack asked, starting out calmly, but his voice got louder, angrier. He couldn't help it, "Doctor, what the hell is going on here?"

The Doctor gave a sigh, one hand on the back of his neck.

"It..." He started wearily, as though he didn't know how to carry on. "Oh, it... is a very long story."

"Right. Well you can tell it. Right here, right now." Jack yelled, mentally berating himself for how easily he flew off the handle nowadays. Mind you, he had gone a year without displaying any sort of emotion, didn't he deserve to show a little anger when the woman he loved, the one he had dreamed about, whom the thought of had kept him going over the past months, had no recollection of him at all?

xx

Donna looked from this Jack person to the Doctor, all the while edging discretely towards the latter. Despite herself, despite being frightened, she did actually want to know what was happening.

"I can't, not now, I just..." The Doctor stammered, glancing wildly at Donna, obviously struggling with himself.

"Fat lot o' good you are as usual, Doctor!" Jack spat venomously, but then he turned to her and his eyes softened.

"Donna," he murmured, "Please, think. You've gotta know me." He was coming towards her again, and she stumbled backwards. Generally, in a situation like this, her instinct was to grab the Doctor, but he was on the other side of the room. She glared at him, pleading for help.

"Just think." Jack said again, "Right in the back of your mind. You remember me, Donna Noble, you have to. All the things we saw together. What we did." His voice broke, and Donna would have felt sorry for the guy, be it not for the fact that she hadn't the foggiest who he was, and he was freaking her out slightly. Actually, scrap that, he was freaking her out a lot.

He placed a hand on her arm, and she, quivering with fear, did not quite dare to pull away. "Donna." He said quietly, his voice thick with emotion, "I need you to remember, because I don't know what I'll do otherwise. What it will do to me.I can't imagine you leaving now, leaving me. Because..." He took a deep breath, and looked into her eyes. She saw so much sadness in there, the eyes of a man who has lost too much. She knew that look anywhere - it was the look in the Doctor's eyes, and she couldn't bear it.

"Because... I love you." Jack said simply. "And I know, deep down, if you look hard enough, you know you feel the same way about me."

That struck a chord within Donna, that last sentence, and she now knew exactly what she had to do, what she had to say. It struck her as odd now that she hadn't done it sooner, said it the second he'd walked into the room.

She stopped shaking, her confidence instantly restored. This would be the best time to do it, when Jack looked so empty and vulnerable. She took a deep breath, opened her mouth, and said it.

"DOCTOR!"

She wrenched her arm out of the man's grip. Taking her chance, she dashed over to the Time Lord, grabbed his hand, and pulled him out of the building. Just needing to get away from this madman, she ran, back to the fountain, back to the TARDIS, faster than she'd ever run in her life.