"That's ridiculous!" the Doctor raged, throwing his hands up. "Who could possibly want to erase you? What have you done that would make them want to?"
Danni shrugged. "I don't know," she admitted. "Maybe it's something I've not done yet. I've got a lot more lives to live than I have lived, after all."
He shook his head. "I refuse to accept that," he snapped. "You're too good to bring someone's wrath like that. You're the one people like, I'm the one who solves their problems."
Danni narrowed her eyes slightly. She wasn't sure why he was being so defensive over it, but there was absolutely no need to start insulting her. "Hey! I solve things too, you know?" she retorted. "I can get enemies just as much as you can."
"That's not something to brag about," he countered. "You don't have enemies. It's absurd."
"He does have a point, though," River spoke up, sounding rather reluctant to agree with him. "You rarely go anywhere without him, and he's the one that upset people more."
"I'm not a novice at this, you know?" she snapped at the pair. "I know what I'm talking about and it's not the Doctor's timeline that is changing, it's mine. Someone is trying to stop Jack getting to your graduation to stop me being born and we need to find them before they bloody succeed."
"Alright, alright," River replied, trying to placate her and not doing a particularly good job about it. Danni looked ready to rant and rave, which was a hard thing to bring about from her. Another reason why her suggestion didn't sit well with either of them. "What do you suggest, then?"
"Finding Jack, obviously," Danni replied simply. "Someone is hurting him and we need to stop them."
"And how do you suggest we do that, then?" the Doctor snapped. "We don't know where he is, or when he is, and we don't even know if you're even right!"
Danni frowned, looking up at him. "We can use the TARDIS," she said. "That's how we normally do it, isn't it?" She pushed herself up off the floor, looking her husband over with a critical eye that came with knowing him for so long. He was adgitated, sure, but it wasn't from what was happening. Her suggestion shouldn't have brought about this much anger. "What is it? What's wrong?"
"Nothing," he retorted. "Apart from someone messing around with at least one of our time lines, everything is pretty much normal, isn't it?" He sounded a little annoyed that she'd even asked, but she saw his eyes dart to River just for a moment.
She reached out, grabbing his hand. "Come with me," she commanded with no room for argument. She started to walk him towards the hallway. "River, would you mind trying to find the right Jack for us?"
River nodded, glad to be doing anything but sorting photos. "Of course, sweetie."
"Thanks."
Danni took him into the hallway, then down a bit as well until she knew that River wouldn't be able to hear them. He didn't protest but she could tell he wasn't happy to be torn away without much choice from the console room.
She didn't really care. "What's wrong?" she asked him again.
His eyebrows raised in his disbelief. "My wife is being erased from history," he hissed. "I'm sorry I'm not taking that in my stride."
"Not that," she retorted. "Of course you're going to be worried about that! I am, and I'm the one being erased! I mean you shooting down my every idea. You've not done that for years. What's wrong?"
He glared down at her like he was about to rant at her, but she was always the one person who wasn't scared of him and stared back expectantly, waiting for him to answer her question.
"Why would someone want to erase you?" he bit out. "I don't understand, how could you possibly upset anyone?"
She blinked, confused at his question as she worked out what he was saying. A small smile started to spread on her face. "You're upset because someone might not like me, aren't you?" she asked.
"It's not that," he replied firmly before hesitating slightly. "Well, it's not just that..."
She was incredibly touched. This was something that seemed so very Twelve. He was always confused about how no one seemed to see her when he was around being his clever self, or how people dismissed her. It made sense that he couldn't understand why someone wouldn't see her as invaluable as he did.
She reached out and took both of his hands in hers. "If we don't follow this train of thought and I'm right, not only do I get erased from time, but Jack suffers as well," she said as gently as she could. "Someone is trying to erase me. We have to stop them before it becomes permanent."
He didn't reply straight away. "Perhaps we should reconsider you being the polite one," he muttered and she giggled slightly before pulling him in for a hug. He held her tightly, hiding his face in her hair and she snuggled into his chest.
"We'll work it out," she promised before pulling back. "Hopefully pretty soon. River actually knows how to fly the TARDIS."
"Oi," he exclaimed as they started to walk back to the console room. "I can fly the TARDIS just fine. I could find Jack in the blink of an eye if I wanted to."
"Oh, I see, you just don't want to," she surmised, sticking her tongue out at him as he shot her a look. That was better. He seemed a lot happier, which was good. She didn't expect nor want him to be pleased she was being erased, but there was a part of her that was rather happy that he was worried, even though the conflicting feeling just wanted him to be happy all of the time.
"Have you two stopped rowing?" River asked.
"Not rowing – talking," Danni corrected. "Found a Jack?"
"I think so," she replied. "It's roughly the same time as my graduation, just a couple of weeks before actually. Quite far away from the university, though."
Danni shrugged. "Doesn't matter where it is," she reasoned. "As long as we save him."
~0~0~0~
Jack had been strung up more times than he would like to count. They seemed to like to have him hanging from the roof, and while most of the time he was much the willing participant in scenarios such as that, sometimes he really wasn't. Those times still happened much too often, and no matter how often they came, he still felt the panic when he woke up.
The room was dark, but not bare. In fact, if he wasn't mistaken, he was back in the hospital room he had originally woken up in. Then he'd been shot, hadn't he? Damn, that was annoying.
He shook his wrists to test the strength of his restraints and found them probably just too strong for him to break out of straight away, but he could wear the hold on the ceiling down. Honestly, it was something when he would call back to the Master's reign over Earth for a standard of quality chains. He needed better enemies.
Speaking of… He still had no idea who was keeping him trapped, or why they wanted Danni to disappear from the universe. Not that motivation mattered under this circumstance, but it was always good to know all the information and he barely had any at all.
The door to the room opened and a man stepped in. He didn't look like the type of man who would bother himself with a man being strung up in a hospital room, but he definitely looked like the type of man who would order such a thing. He obviously took pride in his appearance, with not a hair out a place and a very expensive looking suit on. He definitely wasn't the guy who had originally killed him. Must be the boss.
"Nice to see you awake, Captain," he greeted as if he really was just visiting Jack in the hospital. "We were getting worried. Not that we really need to, right? You'll always wake up."
"I wouldn't count on that," Jack retorted, recalling a time from his past long ago when his resurrections weren't quite so reliable. "I'm guessing it was your goon who got that lucky shot?"
"Unfortunately, yes," the man confirmed. "I do apologise for that, but 'needs must' and all that." He nodded to the chains that held Jack up. "I'm afraid that's why you've been offered less that top notch treatment. Can't have you running away just yet."
"I've had worse," Jack brushed off. "What do you want with Danni?"
The man chuckled. "Straight down to business, Captain? I can see where she gets that from."
"So you've met her before?" Jack asked. "Or are you just working off hearsay?"
"No, we've met," the man agreed. "It was that meeting that has led to your rather unfortunate circumstances now."
"Didn't go too well, then? What, did she shoot you down or something? I wouldn't worry about it too much, we've been flirting for centuries, it's not personal."
If the man was fazed by him talking about flirting with his own daughter, he didn't show it. "No, no, no. Nothing like that. Everyone knows how loyal she is to the Doctor. I wouldn't dream of breaking up a marriage."
"Just erasing one half from history?" Jack shot back.
The man grimaced slightly. "Ah, you have got me there," he replied. "Danielle Fielding is a menace. Do you realise just what the universe has to suffer through just because she exists? The many planets the Doctor has left in his wake just because she was missing? It's becoming quite the problem."
"He's always come on a little strong, I'll give you that," Jack agreed. "Put him in a time out. Erasing his wife seems a little extreme."
"It's because of his wife that we're in the mess," the man countered. "His search across the universe has left people in his wake. Where he used to help, he now just walks away. And Danielle? Well," he chuckled, "everyone has heard stories of the Time Child. I don't need to go into details, do I?"
"Yes, and they are just stories," Jack told him firmly. The man shot him a look.
"I have personally been through one of her stories," he explained shortly. "I was there when she was trying to make some noise. I can tell you, they are more than stories. They make each other worse, but the Doctor is an asset, she is just a monster."
That seemed to be the end of the conversation and Jack really didn't want to continue talking to a man who would insult his daughter so freely.
"Now, I do apologise for the lack of comfort, but it won't be for too long," the man told him. "We'll let you go soon enough."
Jack frowned to himself. "You're just going to leave me here?"
"Of course," the man replied. "Did you think I was just going to keep killing you?"
"You wouldn't be the first," Jack pointed out.
"There really is no need to kill you," the man explained. "Once what we need starts affecting the universe, you will be let go. That is, of course, as long as you don't keep trying to escape." He nodded his head. "Captain."
Jack watched him walk out, listening to the door lock behind him. He struggled at his chains again for a moment before relaxing back the best he could. He needed to work out a plan before he even attempted to get free, and wasting energy would just be a hindrance.
He looked around the room but nothing immediately stood out to him. This was going to take a while. Perhaps he could break his wrist? That was a very viable, if unfavourable, option he had.
He looked at the door again. He needed to wait, though. Trying to escape now would just lead to his next death quicker. He had to bide his time. And work out exactly what Danni had done to anger these people so much.
And kill them all for trying to hurt her.