Something dark moved at the periphery of his vision, a flurry of leather, then he found himself being thrown hard against the wood of the police box.
The impact made him exhale sharply, only now becoming aware of the Doctor's furious stare.
Oh.
He had forgotten that he didn't need Rose to wake up to be killed slowly and horribly. A raging Time Lord seemed to be happy to oblige. Pinning him with an unearthly strength against the TARDIS, his voice was almost a growl
"One good reason not to kill you here and now, Captain."
---
10 minutes earlier
---
She swallowed hard, trying to keep the tears at bay.
He couldn't do that to her, he just couldn't.
She felt like she was watching herself from a distance, going through the motions, pleading at Jack, who was currently pacing up and down in front of the TARDIS, raking his hair, obviously desperate.
It had to be bad when the guy who conned for a living dropped all pretence.
"Jack, lets just wait for the Doctor, he'll know what to do."
It had all been her fault, really. Why would she always get interested in the wrong aliens? Why were the wrong aliens always interested in her?
Those carp-headed guys had seemed friendly enough, their greyish scales a nice diversion from the uniformly pink skinned (and tight lipped) natives of this planet she had forgotten the name of already.
She let out a sigh, hoping to chase away the smell of hay that was still lingering in her nose. The damsel in distress, it was, as so many times before with the Doctor, her fault they found themselves in this situation.
"Look, let's at least go inside, I'm sure there's something we could use around in there."
But the Time Agent shook his head, without stopping to pace. He looked pale, his RAF uniform suddenly seeming several sizes too big for him. She didn't know if it was because of what had happened or if he was just tired.
He looked up andjudging by his smile he had decided something.
"I know exactly what to do, Rose."
He pulled out the syringe thing he had shown her earlier. Oh no, he would not do that, he would seriously not.
She was not letting him.
She grabbed his arm, making him stop the pacing, trying to talk sense into him, although she couldn't hide her fear.
"No, Jack, listen, don't do this. It was my fault after all. The Doctor might need you."
Jack smiled for a brief moment, put her hands on her cheeks, wiping tears away with his thumbs. She hadn't even noticed she had begun to cry.
"It's okay. Besides, I owe you one."
His face turned suddenly cold, the warmness from just seconds before gone, replaced by something determined.
"Undress."
He couldn't totally suppress the smirk that followed. Her questioning look made him sigh and mutter something about contamination, but she understood. The stench was still in her clothes.
She didn't want it to end this way. She shook her head, she would refuse to do this. Couldn't leave him behind. Dug her fingers deeper into his arms.
He pushed her out of his arms effortlessly, made her stumble and almost land on the dusty floor. When she looked up she saw that he had pulled out his gun.
"There's no time left Rose, now get out of your clothes."
No, he couldn't do this, it had been her fault, he shouldn't pay for her fault. No one should. She couldn't take it, not again. The cry of a Reaper tip-toed through her memory. It was her fault and others paid the price. Others died.
She could have sworn she saw compassion flicker through his eyes, before the soldier in him took over again. Her tears flowed freely now.
"NOW!"
she flinched from his yell. She had never seen him that way. For a moment she wondered if that had been the Jack Harkness in those years as an Agent. She was glad she never met him then.
The Doctor had to turn up any minute now, he would think of something, make this entire scene unnecessary. She moved down slowly, sitting on the ground, beginning to fiddle with her shoes.
"Don't play for time, come on! Lets get this over with."
the cold voice made her look up at the man standing above her "Jack, please... I'm sure the Doctor will..."
he cut her off, a warm smile suddenly springing out of nowhere "The Doctor's not here, is he?" his voice had almost lost its edge again. Almost.
He kneeled down besides her, his shaking hands helping her undress when her numb fingers refused to. Threw the clothes away as far as he could and a moment later she could smell the fresh, dry air around her.
He waggled his eyebrows. "Always wanted to do that."
If the situation hadn't been what it was, she would have giggled. Or died out of shame. She wasn't sure.
She was pulled back into reality when he gently grabbed her upper arm, pointing the syringe at it.
"Now give me your arm." His voice was soft again, lulling her to comply.
He couldn't do that.
She tried to wrestle free, wanted to convince him that it had to be him instead of her, trying to tell him that the Doctor would find another way, but she heard a small hiss when the chemical entered her bloodstream.
Warmth spread through her veins, her eyelids suddenly grew heavy. Her head felt unbelievably light, her arms refused to obey her anymore. She stopped struggling, numbly sinking backwards, slowly drifting off into sleep.
The last thing she felt was how strong arms caught her and laid her gently onto the sandy floor.
Then darkness embraced her.