Author's Note: We know, we're late again, so sorry, but today is opening day at the store, so we're behind. We promise to reply to reviews sometime this weekend, and I'm sure that there are typos that we missed, so please let us know and we'll get them fixed. Thanks so much!

He was too still, it was as if she were reliving the day he showed up on her doorstep. But Harry wasn't here and she couldn't tell if John was breathing or not. He looked really bad, much worse than the first time.

"It's John," she cried, looking up at the Brigadier, who had practically leaped over the two of them to fire at the Land Rover careening down the street. "I can't tell if he's alive or not. Oh, please, call an ambulance and have them send someone to help him right away."

As he ran back into the house, she turned back to John, kneeling down next to him. She put her head on his chest, but she couldn't hear anything. She felt for a pulse, but couldn't find one. "Oh John, please don't leave me. Not now, not after I've discovered how much I love you. You can't die," she begged him. "There's so much I haven't told you. The baby, our baby needs you, and so do I. You can't leave us like this. John," she called out louder. "John no, oh no, no, no," she rocked back and forth crying.

Thirty-eight seconds and an eternity later, an ambulance screeched to a halt in front of the house, the medics jumping out and running towards her. "Ma'am," one said gently, "you need to give us some room."

Sarah looked up with surprise. "Please save him," was all she could say. Then she moved away slightly, not wanting to be too far from him. She watched as the two men started to go to work on John. Everything seemed as if she were seeing it in slow motion.

The Brig had just hung up the phone and came back out to the street, marveling at their response time. He held Sarah's bloody hand as the medics worked.

One listened grabbed a stethoscope and listened to John's chest. "Set up to defib."

Sarah watched as John's bloody shirt was cut open and paddles were placed in his hands. The man put one of them just below John's collar bone and the other by his left armpit near his ribs. He turned to Sarah and asked her to move farther back. Once she did, he turned to his partner. "Clear," he shouted.

John's body jumped and stiffened. As Sarah looked on in horror, her body jumped too. When his body went limp, the EMT turned to his partner who was looking at a monitor. The man shook his head and his partner held the paddles firmly in place. "Clear," he shouted and once more John's body leaped into the air. Sarah jumped again too. It wasn't until the fifth shock when the EMT looked over at his partner, and finally got a thumbs up.

"It's thready, but it's there." said the second EMT. "Let's get him into the back and head out right away."

Sarah watched as they placed John on a stretcher and started to head for the ambulance. "Wait," she called out. "You're not taking him anywhere without me."

"Are you his wife?" the medic asked, opening the ambulance door. Off in the distance, another siren wailed.

"Yes I," Sarah Jane stopped herself. She suddenly realized that without knowing it, sometime in the last two weeks she had come to think of John as her husband and herself as his wife. "Well, no, not exactly," she answered. "I'm his fiancee and I'm his legal guardian as well. So I have every right to go with him," she said firmly.

"Then climb in, ma'am." And in a moment, they were gone, with the Brig heading back to his Jeep to follow.

As he started the engine a second ambulance stopped in front of the driveway and the medics jumped out. "Where's the patient?"

The Brig's stomach dropped. "Already gone, move that thing!" He jumped into his jeep and drove over the neighbor's lawn to get around it following the first ambulance, RT in hand. The ambulance he'd called had been the second to arrive, and he called in reinforcements, checking on the number plate of the first one as he followed it through the streets.

The plate was legitimate; it really was an ambulance, and when it pulled into the hospital parking lot five minutes later, he was relieved to see that it had simply been called before Mister Tinker had arrived, and that it wasn't a trap. He'd pursue who called them and why later.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The moment they arrived at the hospital, Harry was waiting for them, having also received an anonymous call. The Brigadier made sure he was assigned to the case, then set about figuring out exactly where he needed to deploy his security detail. Now that they'd found their Mister Tinker, he wasn't letting him get lost again. Then he went off to find Sarah Jane.

Sarah was sitting all alone in the waiting room with her head in her hands crying.

The Brig sat down next to her and put an arm around her shoulder.

Sarah turned to him and sobbed her heart out on his shoulder. "They won't let me stay with him," she cried. "I just want to be there with him. He shouldn't be alone right now, he needs me and I need him."

"Right now you need to let the doctors give him the medical attention he needs," he said. "I promise you that I'll see to it you're with him as soon as possible."

Sarah nodded. She put her head back on the Brig's shoulder and let him hold her while they waited.

In a few moments a nurse came out carrying a small bundle an a manila envelope. She looked over at Sarah. "Are you Mr. Tinker's fiancee?"

Sarah nodded almost afraid to speak. "Is he ... is he going to be alright?"

"I'm so sorry, I don't have that information. All I know is that they're still working on him." She handed the package and the clothes to Sarah. "These are his personal belongings. You need to be responsible for them until he's well enough to get them back."

"Thank you," Sarah said hugging it to her. When the nurse left, she looked at John's things. She rubbed her cheek against his jacket. "It smells like him," she said softly to the Brigadier.

He noticed a bulge in the pocket. "May I?" he asked, and gently took the jacket from her, reaching carefully into the pocket in case the item was dangerous. After a moment he realized what it was, and drew the small velvet box out, handing it to her. "Well, it doesn't tell us where he's been, but it does tell us what he went into that shop to get."

Sarah took it and opened the box to find a simple, yet elegant ring. The stone wasn't very big, but it was set beautifully. She closed it, tears running down her face. "Oh John, John," was all she could say before she broke down once more.

It was several hours later, after the Brigadier had seen to it that Benton's listening device had been removed, that he returned to the hospital to see how things were going.

Sarah sat at John's bedside holding his hand carefully so as not to disturb the wires he was hooked up to, never taking her eyes off of him. She was just as determined as the Brig was not to lose track of him ever again.

He silently pulled a chair up next to her and sat down. "How's he doing?" he whispered, as though the tubes and wires didn't tell the story.

Sarah didn't take her eyes off of John. "They still don't know if he's going to make it. We've had a bad scare a few minutes after they got him into this bed, but they were able to revive him. The doctors say it will be touch and go for a while. If he makes it through the night, his chances will increase."

He didn't say anything for a few moments, watching her. In all the years he'd known her, he'd never seen her like this. Oh, he'd seen her sad, angry, scared, even worried, crying over the Doctor. But he'd never seen her so … vulnerable. If he'd had any doubt that she really loved this man, it was gone now. He gently draped a reassuring arm around her shoulder. "Has he been awake at all? Did he say anything?"

"No," she shook her head. "He hasn't even moved. Oh, Alistair, you should see what they've done to him. His entire body is swollen and covered with bruises, and worse." The tears fell freely down her cheeks. "When I think of what they put him through, and the pain he must have felt. He's such a gentle person, how could anyone make him suffer so? What kind of monster could have done this to him and why?" She grabbed his arm and kneaded it. "Why would they try to torture him to death?"

Alistair had some theories, but he wasn't sure which he wanted share with her. He couldn't tell her about Torchwood; that was too dangerous. Should he tell her that perhaps they thought he was the Doctor, just as he did? He couldn't bear to tell her that perhaps it had all sprung out of a rivalry that he himself had created. Instead he just shook his head. "I suppose we won't know until he wakes up."

Sarah's eyes glazed over with resolution. "Yes, not until he wakes up. Not getter better isn't an option. I can't, I won't lose him again."

"You've lost enough," the Brig said quietly.

Sarah stayed by John's side all night. She kept watch over him until she couldn't keep her eyes open any more. Finally, in the wee hours of the morning, she nodded off, her head on the bed and her hand still holding John's.

John awoke slowly, and gradually became aware of how he felt, wondering where the pain was. He felt himself relaxed, floating, something in his hand. Not yet wanting to open his eyes, he squeezed it, trying to figure out what it was.

Sarah moaned softly as John's hand squeezed hers, too deeply asleep to awaken.

He heard a moan and was pretty sure it wasn't his. His throat felt too sore from screaming to moan anyway. It occurred to him that his eyelids looked orange; it wasn't pitch black any more, and the air was cool on his throat, not hot on his face as he breathed into the hood. Gradually he forced himself to open his eyes just a little, squinting in the light.

A checkerboard ceiling that seemed familiar... Was he in the hospital? He felt something on his shoulder and saw Sarah sleeping, her head up against him.

He smiled. Suddenly, everything was all right. He wanted to give her a huge hug, but that was out of the question for now, he knew, so he squeezed her hand again, and watched her sleep.

A few minutes later, Harry walked into the room, chart in hand and prepared for the worst. He'd examined John the night before and he knew his chances weren't very good. He looked at Sarah first. How he wanted to hold and comfort her. Her face looked peaceful, but her cheeks had tear streaks on them. He was about to stroke her hair when he noticed that John's eyes were open. "I say," he said out loud with surprise and delight. "You're up, old chap!"

Sarah's head suddenly picked up and her eyes went immediately to John's face. "John, oh John, you did come back to me." She was crying again, but this time, it was with tears of joy.

"Of course I did," he rasped. Looking at her face, he didn't think he'd ever been happier in his life. "Sorry I'm late."