I can't run any more, I fall before you,
Here I am, I have nothing left,
Though I've tried to forget, You're all that I am,
Take me home, I'm through fighting it,
Evanescence - October

To the Last Man: part 3

The Doctor pulled her into his arms and soothingly rubbed her shoulders. 'You're cold,' he stated and picked her, carrying her across the roof. She had obviously been so caught up in her own thoughts she had missed the grating sound the TARDIS made when it landed because on the other side of the large middle structure, it stood proudly against the backdrop of Cardiff's skyline.

He pushed open the door with his foot and carried her into the console room. There was a gasp but he didn't stop, just kept walking towards the med-bay, finally laying her down on one of the comfortable beds. She rolled onto her side and looked around the vast room. It wasn't like other 'hospitals' for one thing it wasn't white, but a cool blue colour. The cabinets were made of light wood and the beds had proper covers rather than thin sheets. The only thing that was the same was the presence of various machines around the sides.

The Doctor disappeared into a back room and Donna walked through the door with a mug of tea. Winter sat up and took it gratefully and took a long sip. Too much milk and she didn't normally take sugar but it was warm and the thought was there.

'I'm Donna, Donna Noble,' the red head introduced herself with a kind smile.

'I know,' Winter replied, but at Donna's stunned look she checked herself. 'Sorry, I mean, it's nice to meet you, I'm Nemo.'

'Like the fish?'

Winter sighed she couldn't be bothered to argue her point now, and besides she'd already made a fool of herself by saying 'I know', 'Yeah, like the fish.'

'Now, now Donna, lets not stress her out just yet,' The Doctor chastised as he walked back into the room, glasses firmly perched on his nose.

Donna rolled her eyes and took a seat by the bed, crossing her arms, causing Winter to laugh.

'Right, let's get to the bottom of this shall we?' he grabbed a device from the side and shone it straight in Winter's eyes. She leant back a bit and asked her next burning question.

'Why are you here?' the Doctor looked taken aback.

'Isn't it obvious?' he glanced at the device and back at Winter causing another laugh.

'No, I mean, why now?' he frowned a little.

'I got a worrying phone call from a certain Captain.'

Winter's face fell, the Doctor noticed this and took her hand, 'you just frightened him,' he told her. 'He cares about you a lot, seeing you in the state he describes must have shaken him up quite a bit. He's not angry with you.'

'Yeah he his.' Winter replied.

The Doctor wrinkled his nose a little, 'Well, maybe he is, but only because you scared him, he's just upset you didn't talk to him. And,' he continued, dragging the 'a' out, 'so am I.' he observed her over his glasses, 'I gave you that number for a reason you know.'

She nodded.

'Anyway, after that call I guessed the TARDIS would be able to find you seeing as you seem to still be linked so I just asked her politely and here we are.' He grinned at her and wiggled his fingers, 'Hello.'

She smiled and turned back to Donna, 'You've got your work cut out for you with this one.' She smiled.

The red head looked up with a similar grin, 'Don't I just know it?'

TTT

Donna waved them both off as they exited the TARDIS that now stood outside the Red Dragon Centre. The Doctor took her hand as they strolled towards the hub calmly. 'Your voice is better,' he pointed out.

She nodded, 'I stuttered for ages but after …' she paused not sure how to put it, 'the hospital, it just disappeared.'

He nodded but the silence afterwards was uncomfortable so she brought up a new topic. 'Done anything interesting lately?' he grinned and recounted the last trip to see Agatha Christie.

'Oh and we saw Martha!' he exclaimed excitedly.

'How is she?' Winter asked.

'Oh she's alright, the family are better apparently, and I put in a good word for her so she's working at UNIT now.'

'Don't tell me, you were part of the whole ATMOS, poisonous gas in the sky that burst into flames thing.'

He gave her a one hundred watt smile and she laughed. 'Brilliant, Jack owes me a tenner.'

They both chuckled as they came to stop outside the fountain. She turned to face the Doctor and he pulled a concerned face.

'The human mind is complex,' he began, 'It requires certain situations and processes. The TARDIS has fused with your mind and therefore you see what she sees and she sees what you see.'

Winter nodded trying to keep up.

'But the TARDIS is more evolved than you, it can handle all that power. Your tiny human brain isn't up to the task. Now I've had a bit of a poke around and put in some barriers but they won't last forever, if the TARDIS breaks through you need to call me.'

'At all?' she asked.

'Well, you're bound to get some residue, you might get the urge to wear flares or a toga depending on what time we've landed in and I can't fix the whole languages thing but I'm sure that'll come in handy. What I mean is if it goes back to how it was, not sleeping, breaking in when you're trying to get something done.' He shrugged and then broke into a grin. 'I guess this is it for now.'

Winter nodded and glanced over at the edge of bay. A dark figure was making his way across to them. A figure with a long coat. She smiled and slid her arms around the Doctor's neck.

'Thank you.'

He squeezed back, 'Just do me a favour.'

She pulled back and cocked an eyebrow.

'Don't scare him like that again.' He nodded towards the figure approaching them.

She smiled and kissed him on the cheek before tearing off to meet Jack. Throwing caution to the wind she flung her arms around his neck and held on for dear life.

'I'm sorry!' she cried, 'I'm so, so sorry, I thought I could deal with it, I was just being stubborn. Please don't hate me.'

Jack set her down on the floor and held her face between his palms. His eyes burned with passion as he spoke in a controlled voice. 'Don't, ever, do that to me again.'

She nodded as much as she could. For what felt like hours he just looked into her eyes as if searching for some hidden secret, then without warning he crushed her lips to his and knotted his hand in her hair.

Pulling back slowly and bumping his forehead against hers Jack took her hand and yelled, 'Thank you' to the disappearing figure of the Doctor and then he tugged on her hand, taking her back down to the hub.

TTT

Her room was clean. There was no sign of the pills and Ianto had managed to soak out the foamy substance that she had coughed up. It looked like nothing had happened. Winter looked at the bed thoughtfully. Although she wanted to try it out there was still a lingering feeling, fear that it wouldn't work. She sat on a chair facing the bed and watched as the minutes ticked by.

An hour later the door opened. Jack slipped inside the room and sighed. He pulled her up out of the chair and led her over to the bed, shuffling them both under the covers. With a steady stroke of his fingers on her back, she drifted into her first natural sleep for weeks.

[I just got a conditional offer from AberystwythUni! It's my top choice and I'm ecstatic! I'm Going to WALES!]

[Zaziness: I'm really glad it came as a bit of a shock to you. I thought it was a bit obvious when she first started taking the pills but I knew it was the way to go. Everyone has moments where they're so ill they just want to take a pill and hope everything goes away. But she's just not in the right state to control herself. The very idea of her lunging at Pip and frightening him, just showed how far she'd let herself go. She would NEVER do that normally and luckily for her, he knows that. I'm glad you have some ideas, I got so un-naturally excited when I saw those stories. You can only write a character for so long before you start thinking, well I've seen this before. So it's great to see her doing stuff that I have no idea about :) who knows someone might do a couple of Pip stories…

Sonotalady: I think deep down, none of them are angry that she actually took the pills, more that she didn't come to them in the first place and that they, themselves didn't intervene. So you're probably right. I'm glad you think Pip redeemed himself. I needed to show everyone that while Peregrine is a faithfull companion and a very clever monkey, he's not Always right. He still does daft monkey things. He probably thought she was calling the Doctor to leave him again. It's getting slightly warmer but the temperature has been fluctuating over the past weeks. Most of the country's still covered in snow and Ice but no matter how much it's screwed up my plans this year I still look out the window and think; 'that looks pretty.' I really did love your drabbles, In fact 4 inspired me to do something a lot later on…

Rachy Babes: Hopefully this set back means things will finally start to flow again, in her life. I doubt Jack will trust her with Medication for a while but hey ho, life carries on. Thank you so much for the story, don't hesitate to write more.]