Last of Their Kind

by ThyWanderer

Worn down from years of strife as the last of her kind, Madison once believed happiness was far from reach. Everything begins to change when she meets a man called the Doctor. As secrets and sorrows are shared between them, the pair finds comfort together amidst the stars. Madison can only hope that this time things will be different, even if the universe has other plans for her.

16. Chapter 16

Hello again! I really can't thank you all enough for all the support. I love reading all your reviews. Hope to read some more after this chapter.

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Chapter 16

"What do you make of him?" the Doctor asked then, jerking his head back behind them. They were still climbing up different stairs and trying to make their way up to the top of the hospital. They had been silent for a while, accepting the solemn silence between them. It felt nice to simply be able to walk hand-in-hand and be comfortable around each other.

Madison hummed as she thought it over. "I would label a typical con man, only out to gain a profit for himself . . . but," she sighed then, "there's more to him than that. He had genuine concern for my well-being when I was with him. He also backed off with the flirting when he realised it was making me uncomfortable."

The Doctor frowned then. "Could have just been an act. Part of his con is to ease you into being tricked."

"True. But I don't think so. There's something about him that shows honesty in his actions, even if his words don't exactly match. He also did seem genuinely upset when faced with the idea of his con causing harm to people. That's not something easily lied about." Growing quiet then, she began to ponder over meeting this Jack Harkness fellow. Though his words and actions so far seemed not the most pleasant to her, something about the way he had panicked over the idea of the disease being his fault made her suspect there was more to him than meets the eye. Then again, most con men didn't like causing their 'clients' bodily harm so that they could be conned again in the future if needed. It had been ages since she's been around a trickster like this.

She blinked then when she realised she had been lost in thought as they came up to the very top of the hospital. It appeared to be an area that had been converted into a ward of isolation as there was only one door and it was a very thick, grey metal door. Glancing around, she realised with a start that they had left Rose and Jack rather far behind. Though they seemed to be catching up as she heard both of them calling out for her and the Doctor down below a few flights of stairs. The Doctor walked over, poking his head over the railing of the stairs to ask Jack about a 'blaster'. She wasn't certain on what this could be as she was a bit puzzled as to why the Doctor was asking for a way into the door when the sonic screwdriver should have been sufficient. Though maybe this door was something the sonic could not get around? She would have to question him on it later.

"The night your space junk landed someone was hurt," the Doctor said as Jack and Rose came up the stairs. "This is where they were taken."

"Who was that?" Madison asked curiously. "You mentioned it being the child, correct?"

"What happened to them?" questioned Rose.

"Let's find out," the Doctor said to them before looking at Jack. "Get it open." He backed away to stand by Madison and Rose while Jack pulled out some sort of gun-like device and aimed it at the door. Madison watched with fascination the device pulsing and whining as it shot a blue beam towards the lock of the door. Before long, a square chunk of the door was missing, leaving nothing but a hole where the lock should have been. Jack had a sly grin as he pulled on the door and held it open for them.

"Sonic blaster, 51st century. Weapon factories of Villengard," the Doctor named off as he walked forward first, taking the device from Jack's hand to examine it.

"You've been to the factories?" Jack asked him, seeming surprised.

"Once," the Doctor answered rather casually.

"Well, they're gone now. Destroyed. Main reactor went critical, vaporised the lot," Jack explained.

"Like I said. Once," the Doctor said, pushing the blaster back into Jack's hands. Jack blinked for a moment before his eyes went wide in realisation. The Doctor smirked cheekily. "There's a banana grove there now. I like bananas. Bananas are good." Madison snickered at the man's reaction, and at what the Doctor blatantly admitted. Of course, he would travel somewhere just to blow up a building. It was just like him, honestly. She made a mental note to ask the Doctor about that interesting story later as she followed him into the room.

The moment she stepped foot into the room with the Doctor, she could tell something was off. She wasn't sure what the was exactly, but she could sense . . . something. As the Doctor turned the lights on, she looked around at the mess that was the observation, isolation room. The room was split in two. One side was for the patient that was obviously in lock-down by the doctors, while the other side had a window and a desk with different recording equipment. It was obvious that the doctors had carefully monitored whomever they had locked up. Though there were signs of something terrible occurring here as the window was shattered, broken pieces of glass lying everywhere. The recording equipment was also thrown about carelessly, lying on the desk at odd angles or on the floor.

"What do you think?" the Doctor asked aloud, seeming to question the three behind him for their thoughts.

"Something got out of here," Jack said, walking closer to the desk to stare through the broken window.

"Yeah. And?" the Doctor questioned again.

"Something powerful. Angry," Jack commented.

The Doctor nodded. "Powerful and angry."

Madison frowned slightly as she thought this over. No, anger didn't quite do it justice. More like . . . scared. Sad? It was hard telling. There was a mixture of something she was feeling from this room, but she couldn't quite grasp it. Deciding to walk towards what she was sensing, she went to the patient side of the room, stepping in to see a mass of children's drawings, toys, and a small bed. Her heart clenched at the sight as she thought of the poor child that was locked up in here, left to their own devices to stool away in misery.

"How could a child do this?" Rose wondered aloud. The three looked over when hearing the Doctor turning on a recording device.

"Do you know where you are?" asked an older male voice over the recording.

"Are you my mummy?" asked a child, also coming from the recording.

"Doctor, that's the child. The same one I had gone after," Madison spoke in a hushed voice.

The Doctor glanced at her from where he stood by the desk on the other side of the room. "You sure?"

"Positive," she replied, giving a firm nod. The group continued to listen to the doctor speaking with the child, trying to get answers from the child more than 'mummy'. As it continued on, the child sounded more desperate for answers. More frustrated. Ready for someone, anyone, to answer his call for a mummy. Madison felt her heart clench and her eyes burn as tears rushed to come forth. She took in a breath, trying to steady herself. But as she heard the call for 'mummy', all she could think about was all those children out there in this war, calling for their own mummies and never receiving an answer in return.

"How can you be sure that's the same child?" Rose asked Madison as the recording paused for a moment of silence. "Not that I don't believe you. I'm just wondering how you recognised the voice."

"It's part of being," Madison started to answer with a voice thick with emotion, but she glanced over to Jack when seeing his curious eyes on her, "what I am. My ears are very sensitive and can distinguish the different frequencies in a person's voice."

"You're not human?" Jack questioned her then, making Madison wince slightly. She really did not want this man she barely knew to realise her being Mer. She did not know if she could trust him just yet. So she ignored the man, turning to the Doctor then.

"He's always asking that same question," she said, watching the Doctor as he leaned on the desk with his hands, staring down at the recording that continued on with the child calling for his mummy.

"Like he doesn't know," Rose agreed. "Why doesn't he know?"

"He could have been sent off as a baby to one of those farms that are taking in children," Madison offered in thought. "A lot of children ran away from those places as they weren't, exactly, the best places to be for them." Madison knew all too well what it had been like for the children being sent off, going to homes that didn't want them. The people who took in a lot of these kids had done it either because they wanted something out of it all, or because they had been forced to. It caused a lot of people to resent the children being in their homes, leading to them mistreating the kids.

"Yeah, we ran into a bunch of those kids. Remember that Nancy I mentioned earlier?" Rose said, nodding at Madison.

"I don't think that's it. It feels like something else," the Doctor said as he pushed himself away from the desk, slowly walking into the room with them. He then began to pace around the room, going in a circle around the trio who stood at the centre. There was a troubled expression on his face as he paced. "Something else. Something else," Madison heard him muttering under his breath. She watched him carefully and she could tell he was growing frustrated as he tried to work out what was happening here.

"Doctor?" Rose hesitated to question him, appearing worried by his pacing.

"Can you sense it?" he questioned suddenly, frowning heavily as he stopped and stared at the wall of drawings. Madison began to wonder if he was sensing what she had felt earlier, though on a grander scale than her.

"I can feel it," she told him, nodding as she understood what he was feeling. The Doctor glanced at her, giving a small nod.

"Sense what?" Jack questioned as he and Rose shared a confused glance.

"Coming out of the walls. Can you feel it?" the Doctor said, appearing to grow more agitated by the moment. The Doctor stopped then, turning to stare at Jack and Rose. "Funny little human brains. How do you get around in those things?" He started to pace again with a shake of his head.

"When he's stressed, he likes to insult species," Rose said after rolling her eyes at the Doctor's comment.

"Rose, I'm thinking!" the Doctor barked.

"Likes to remind us about being 'lower species' when the console zaps him," Madison added, smiling lightly as the Doctor threw her a look.

"Cuts himself shaving, he does half an hour on life-forms he's cleverer than," Rose agreed, snickering quietly.

"Which is usually us." Madison shared a small laugh with Rose as they both gave the Doctor playful smirks.

"If you two are done, we need to concentrate," the Doctor scolded them, stopping his pacing as he turned to the three of them. "Think about the children living rough around the bomb sites. They come out during air raids, looking for food. Suppose they were there when this thing, whatever it was, landed."

"It was a med-ship. It was harmless," Jack spoke up then.

"You keep saying. Harmless," the Doctor bit out in annoyance before moving on with his thoughts. "Suppose one was affected. Altered."

"Altered how?" Rose questioned, confused about where the Doctor was going with this. Though Madison had a feeling about what conclusion the Doctor was trying to make. The child with the gas mask. By now, she knew they must all realise he was the first to be infected by this . . . whatever it was. He was the first to change. Though who the child truly is, how the boy became infected, and who his mother is were the real questions to be asked.

"I'm here!" came the voice from the recording. Instantly, Madison felt her body go tense. Something was different about the voice that came from the recording. Something . . . off. Then, she felt her instincts yelling at her to run. Blinking, she looked over the Doctor's shoulder, towards the broken window that he had his back to. Standing there, staring at them all, was the child with the gas mask. The boy stood there, stiff in posture and seeming to take in the sight of them all very carefully. Her eyes widened as she felt frozen in fear. She heard the Doctor speaking, but she couldn't pay attention to him as she quickly tried to think of a way out of the room without them being caught by the child. One touch. That was all it would take. One touch and they would become just like him.

"Doctor," she said quietly, trying not to make the child react to her noticing him. She glanced edgily towards the Time Lord, seeing how he was beginning to notice her change in demeanour.

"It's got the power of a god and I just sent it to its room," the Doctor said after a nervous chuckle. Madison subtly started waving to him to back away from the window and come toward her. He seemed to realise what was behind him now and began to edge slowly towards her.

"Doctor, what's that noise?" Rose questioned, frowning in thought as a whirring, rattling noise was heard from the observation room.

"End of the tape. It ran out about thirty seconds ago," the Doctor explained as he got closer to Madison.

"I'm here now! Can't you see me?" the child asked, watching the Doctor getting further away from the broken window.

"I sent it to its room. This is its room," the Doctor finished explaining. He turned around quickly, staring at the child as he backed away and grabbed Madison's hand while holding out an arm to get Rose to back away as well. The child stared at them all for a moment before tilting his head.

"Mummy?" he asked them. Madison could not help but shiver as she was reminded of more horror movies with scary children. Poltergeist might be a good reference for this scenario.

"Okay, on my signal, make for the door," Jack spoke up, remaining steady and calm as he kept his eyes locked on the child before them. He scooted around, throwing his arms over the Doctor's shoulder as he aimed something at the child. "Now!" Jack blinked in shock, taken aback as he pulled out a banana. Madison caught the smirk on the Doctor's face as she watched him pull Jack's blaster from his coat pocket and aimed it at a wall. He created a very large square hole for them which led into an empty hallway of the hospital. The Doctor yelled at them to run, yanking Madison forward to follow him through the hole as he did. Jack and Rose were not far behind as they all made their way into the hallway. Jack yanked back his blaster from the Doctor, making the wall return back to normal just as the child began to make advancement toward them.

"Nice switch," Jack said, looking rather disgruntled to have been tricked so easily by the Doctor as he tossed back the banana to the Time Lord.

"I can't believe you switched out his gun for a fruit," Madison laughed, shaking her head.

"It's from the groves of Vilengard, thought it was appropriate," said the Doctor grinning lightly at her and Jack as he pocketed the banana.

"There's really a banana grove in the heart of Vilengard? And you did that?" Jack replied back in disbelief.

"Bananas are good," the Doctor replied back smoothly. They all jolted as there came a loud thud from the wall in front of them. Madison's eyes widened as she saw an indent form on the wall where something had clearly hit it. The Doctor had them run down the hallway to get away from where the child was clearly trying to come after them. But they halted shortly in their attempt to escape as a horde of gas-masked people came from a doorway towards them. They all ran back the other way, only to be stopped once again when another crowd of infected came at them. In the end, they were back right in front of the wall which was steadily starting to crumble from being hit so tremendously.

"It's keeping us here till it can get at us," the Doctor said, concluding their lack of escape.

"It's controlling them?" Jack asked tensely, aiming his blaster gun at the different hordes coming toward them.

"It is them. It's every living thing in this hospital," the Doctor explained quickly as he looked around wildly, seeming to try to assess their situation and figure out a solution for escape. Madison would have suggested the window next to them, but that was a very steep drop and she doubted they would survive from such a height.

"Okay. This can function as a sonic blaster, a sonic cannon and it's a triple-enfolded sonic disruptor," Jack said hurriedly, still trying to keep an eye on all angles of what was coming for them. "Doc, what you got?"

"I've got a sonic . . .," the Doctor began saying as he pulled out his sonic screwdriver, but seemed to second guess his words. "Never mind." He made it buzz as he turned and faced the horde of empty people coming from their right side.

"I guess a screwdriver doesn't help in a situation like this, does it?" Madison said weakly, backing up to press her back against the wall behind her as the wall in front of them was pounded on again.

"A sonic what?" Jack all but exclaimed in utter disbelief, turning to stare at the Doctor with wide eyes.

"Screwdriver, okay! It's a sonic screwdriver," the Doctor said, appearing flustered as he turned and showed his buzzing tool. While Jack could only stare in confusion, Madison saw Rose react swiftly then as she grabbed Jack's blaster and aimed it down as the wall in front of them crumbled.

"Going down!" Rose announced as she pressed the trigger on the blaster and made a large square hole appear under them. They all fell roughly to the floor below. Madison glanced around as she got up from the ground, seeing they had arrived in a dark ward. She saw Jack aim his sonic blaster up and made the floor above them appear again, sending them all into pitch blackness.

"Doctor, Maddie, are you okay?" she heard Rose ask them from the darkness.

"Could've used a warning," grumbled the Doctor. Rose grumbled about the lack of gratitude. Madison reached forward and helped Rose off the floor as she stood up. It was then, as she and Rose stood up, that she felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end and her instincts giving her a warning of caution.

"Who has a sonic screwdriver?" she heard Jack scoff lightly as he stood up from the ground.

"I do," the Doctor responded, immediately on the defence.

"Hey, you two, just—," Madison tried saying.

"Who looks at a screwdriver and thinks, 'Ooh, this could be more sonic?'" Jack said with heavy sarcasm.

"What, you've never been bored?" retorted the Doctor.

"Hey," Madison tried again. She tensed as Rose muttered something about lights and started to walk away. But she quickly grabbed the girl and yanked her back. "Don't move." She looked at the Doctor and Jack again as the two continued to argue. "Ssshhh! The both of you!" This got their attention as they quickly shut up she could see the outline of them turning towards her. "There's more of them in here. We need to stay quiet and not alert them," she hissed, trying to keep her voice as quiet as possible as she feared any loud noises would alert the empty people to their presence.

"More of them? Where? I can't see anything," Jack responded, seeming bewildered by her panic.

"I can sense them, all right?" she replied smartly.

"'Sense them'?" Jack questioned sceptically.

"Just shut up and trust Madison's instincts," the Doctor muttered, now too keeping his voice subtle. Madison felt his hand grab hers from the dark, pulling her close to him. Rose followed along, keeping hold of Madison's other hand. She could feel the blonde's tense body beside her as they scooted along the room with the Doctor. "Follow me. There's a door over here."

"How can you tell?" Jack asked as they heard him also shuffling along with them.

"Because I can see. What does it matter how?" the Doctor scoffed.

"I was just asking. Can't I ask a question?"

"A stupid question."

"Just shush!" Madison barked at them, making them go silent as they heard the creaking of metal cots around them. Then they began to hear the calling of 'mummy' echoing around them.

"Door. Now," the Doctor ordered, rushing them all forward through the dark as they made their way over to a far-off door. Madison saw a blue light from Jack's blaster as he appeared to be trying to open the door for them. But it kept making weak noises as though it were broken.

"Damn! It's the special features, they really drain the battery," he complained loudly in frustration. Madison felt the Doctor let go of her hand as he pushed his way up front to work on the door.

"The battery? That's so lame," Rose hissed in disbelief. There came a whirling of the sonic screwdriver before the door to the ward was swiftly opened. Light poured into the room, allowing Madison to finally see everyone clearly. She let Jack and Rose leave the room first as she wanted them to get to safety before she made her way out of the door alongside the Doctor. She looked over her shoulder to see the Doctor sonicking the door tightly locked behind them. Turning around, it then occurred to her that they were not in a hallway as she first thought. Instead, it appeared as though they had arrived in a storage room, filled with extra supplies from the hospital.

"I was going to send for another one but somebody's got to blow up the factory," Jack replied to Rose's earlier comment, rolling his eyes as he glanced toward the Doctor. Jack rushed over to a desk, standing up on it to reach a barred window and began looking out the window. Clearly, he was looking for an escape for them.

"Oh, I know. He blew up mine and Maddie's job," said Rose.

"It was an interesting first impression for sure," Madison sighed as she walked more into the storage room to look around at everything.

"That's practically how he communicates," Rose joked lightly.

"Okay, that door should hold it for a bit," the Doctor said as he turned around to face them from where he had been sonicking the door.

"The door? The wall didn't stop it," Jack responded, staring at the Doctor in disbelief as he jumped down from the desk.

"It's got to find us first!" the Doctor argued as he walked towards the centre of the room. "Come on, we're not done yet. Assets. Assets." He began looking around the room, taking in the inventory of what they had at hand.

"I've got a banana and, in a pinch, you could put up some shelves," Jack retorted heavily in sarcasm.

"Window?" the Doctor suggested.

"We're seven storeys up, so I don't think that'll be an option," Madison sighed, shaking her head as she had already thought of that earlier.

"And no other exits," Rose said, crossing her arms as her brows furrowed heavily in frustration.

"Well, the assets conversation went in a flash, didn't it?" Jack said, again with heavy sarcasm, as he sat down in a wheelchair.

"You sure know how to pick 'em," the Doctor said to Madison, jerking his head in exasperation towards Jack. She sighed, shaking her head as she looked at both Rose and Jack, seeing their rather pessimistic expressions.

"Look, think of the bright side. We're not turning into empty gas-mask zombies right now, yeah?" she tried to encourage them.

"Which might only last for who knows how long," Jack pointed out sceptically.

"As a con man, I thought you'd be a little more ready to look at all angles to get what you want," Madison retorted smartly, turning her back to him as she crossed her arms.

"Well, maybe I am looking at all angles."

Madison turned around, seeing the cheeky smirk on Jack's face. "Down boy. Eyes to yourself." She rolled her eyes as she turned away from him again. She caught the disgruntled frown the Doctor threw her way before he turned to look at the barred windows. She felt a twinge as she knew he was upset now. She did not mean to make him upset. She wasn't even certain why he was. Though she did have a feeling . . .

"Okay. One, we've got to get out of here. Two, we can't get out of here. Have I missed anything?" the Doctor listed off quickly, still focusing on their escape.

"Yeah. Jack just disappeared," Rose said, making both Madison and the Doctor turn around in shock. Indeed, the con man was gone, leaving just an empty wheelchair.

"Fantastic," the Doctor grumbled, turning back to the barred window in front of him. Frowning, Madison glanced around the room as though hoping to see the Captain around somewhere. But of course, he escaped. Just like a con man. Save their own skin first.

"Where'd he go?" Rose questioned, bewildered by the sudden disappearance.

"He must have used the 'vortex' thing of his. It's how we got here in the first place," Madison explained, sighing as she leaned against a desk behind her.

"'Vortex manipulator'," the Doctor muttered under his breath. "If he's got one of those he must have been a Time Agent once."

"Calls himself 'Captain'. Wonder if that was his rank before he left the agency," Madison offered in thought. She watched as the Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver, seeming to be scanning the bars on the windows for some reason.

"If he got you here with it, then it's probably out of juice for now. Besides that, I would have sensed it. So he teleported using something else," he explained absently to them.

"So he abandoned us?" Rose let out a frustrated noise. "Why is it always the great-looking ones who do that?"

"Were you eyeing him up?" Madison scoffed, shaking her head at the blonde.

"Don't tell me you weren't seeing how handsome he was," Rose replied. "You don't run across one of those very often, do you?"

"I'm making an effort not to be insulted," the Doctor spoke up, earning their attention.

"I mean, men," Rose seemed to clarify.

The Doctor dropped his hand from the barred window, turning to give Rose an exasperated look. "Okay, thanks, that really helped."

Rose rolled her eyes. "Oh, come on, you know what I mean. Maddie, tell him." She turned to Madison then as if expecting backup.

"Nope. Leave me out of this one," Madison responded, holding up her hands as she shook her head.

"So you're saying you weren't looking at all?" Rose raised a brow at Madison, smirking slyly.

Frowning, Madison crossed her arms. "Looking implies that I was interested, which I wasn't even remotely."

"But you still looked. I can tell." The blonde sniggered as Madison felt her face flush. She glanced towards the Doctor, seeing that he had been watching her. He averted his gaze quickly, brows furrowed as he frowned.

"Hey, can you hear me? Maddie? Doctor? Rose?" came the voice of Jack from a nearby radio. They all looked towards the radio, see that its light was on and could hear the frequencies changing on it. The Doctor jumped down from the desk, going over to the radio first. He adjusted it as it had been laying on its side.

"Back on my ship. Used the emergency teleport. Sorry I couldn't take you. It's security-keyed to my molecular structure. I'm working on it, hang in there," Jack continued to speak through the radio. Madison had no idea how it was even working as the Doctor showed them the radio was broken and torn apart in the back.

"How are you speaking to us?" asked the Doctor.

"Om-Com. I can call anything with a speaker grill," Jack explained.

"Now there's a coincidence," said the Doctor.

"What is?"

"The child can Om-Com, too."

"He can?" Rose questioned, surprised by this.

The Doctor nodded, replying, "Anything with a speaker grill. Even the TARDIS phone."

"So that's how that fake phone worked?" Rose wondered aloud.

"'Fake phone'?" Madison asked curiously.

"That little phone door on the outside of the TARDIS. Apparently, it's a fake, but the child called us on it earlier," Rose explained.

"How do you have a public call box and it not have a real phone on the outside?" Madison questioned the Doctor then, shaking her head in disbelief. "That just seems like something that needs to be fixed."

The Doctor raised a brow at her. "What's the point of having a phone on the outside if I've got one on the inside?"

She gave a shrug. "Just in case anyone ever needs help."

"Back to the point," Rose sighed, shaking her head at the two. "If the kid can speak to us, then doesn't that mean—?"

"I can hear you," came the voice of the child over the radio, speaking in a sing-song voice. "Coming to find you. Coming to find you." Madison felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. Yeah, creepy kids were definitely something she wished she could cross off her list and be done with.

"I'll try to block out the signal. Least I can do," Madison heard Jack saying after he and the Doctor exchanged a quick observation over the child's voice. "Remember this one, Maddie?" Blinking in surprise, she was taken back as Moonlight Serenade began playing over the radio. Both the Doctor and Rose slowly looked back at her. Rose smirked while the Doctor merely raised a brow. Madison felt her face flushing with embarrassment.

"Is this the song you danced to?" Rose began teasing her.

"It wasn't a dance," Madison muttered as she walked away, sitting in the empty wheelchair.

"Sure does sound like you danced," Rose continued to tease, coming over to sit down on the ground next to Madison. Ignoring the blonde, Madison watched as the Doctor got back on the desk he had been at earlier, starting to use his sonic screwdriver on the barred window again. The song over the radio continued to play, creating a sort of surreal moment of peace.

"What're you working on?" Madison asked the Doctor curiously, wishing to get them all focused on something other than her failed dance with Jack.

"Trying to set up resonation pattern in the concrete, loosen the bars," the Doctor answered rather snipply. Madison could see his rigid posture and she could feel his agitation. Sighing, she leaned back into her chair, feeling guilt for having upset him. She felt that she kept doing that to him tonight.

"Do you think he's coming back?" Rose asked curiously.

"Wouldn't bet my life," the Doctor muttered, waving his sonic across the bars.

"He'll be back," Madison spoke quietly, earning the other two's attention.

"How can you be sure?" Rose questioned, raising a brow.

"You trust him or something?" retorted the Doctor, sounding cross.

"No, I don't necessarily trust him, per say. I just . . . have a gut feeling that he's someone who wouldn't abandon others in need," Madison told them.

"That must have been some hell of a dance to get you to trust him," Rose teased her. Madison shot the blonde a look, making Rose laugh. Then, Rose nodded as she gave Madison a smile. "It's all right. I trust him, too. He saved your life, didn't he? Bloke-wise, that's up there with flossing."

"Saving my life doesn't earn trust that easily," Madison explained. "It takes more than that to gain my trust."

"So it was the champagne then?" Rose grinned lightly with her tongue between her teeth. She laughed as Madison hit her in the shoulder.

"Would you stop teasing me!"

"You make it too easy."

"Did you really dance with him?" spoke up the Doctor then, earning the two's attention. Madison saw how he still faced the barred window, keeping a close eye on what he was doing with the sonic screwdriver. He was acting like he wasn't paying attention to what they were saying, but she could tell, by how tense he was, that he was listening to every single word.

"What, jealous?" Rose teased him now before Madison could reply. "I mean, he is a lot like you. Except with dating and dancing and fabulous hair." The Doctor's shoulders tensed even more, going rigid. Madison looked at Rose, wondering why the girl was trying to provoke him. But then the blonde surprised her by winking knowingly, making her realise that Rose was doing this all on purpose. But why?

"You just assume I'm . . .," the Doctor began to speak, but his words trailed off as he mumbled under his breath.

"What was that?" Rose asked. The Doctor gave a look over his shoulder, eyeing Rose for a moment with a very brief glance given towards Madison.

"You just assume I don't . . . dance," he said then to clarify.

Madison saw a spark in Rose's eye then like she had the Doctor right where she wanted him. "What? Are you telling me you do dance?"

The Doctor kept his eyes focused on the window bars again. "Nine hundred years old, me. I've been around a bit. I think you can assume at some point I've danced."

"Doesn't the universe implode or something if you dance?"

"Well, I've got the moves but I wouldn't want to boast."

Rose caught Madison's eye, nodding her head towards him. Madison shook her head, now seeing where Rose was going with this but was afraid of where it might lead. She could feel her heart picking up as Rose gave her another smirk before looking back at the Doctor and saying, "Then you should probably show Maddie some of those moves, yeah? Before Jack can show her any more of his own."

Rose got up and headed back towards the radio, turning up the music. Madison felt her heart racing as the Doctor and she made eye contact. Both of them were stunned at the very bold move Rose was making. The Doctor blinked as he stared at her while Madison simply felt her face heating up, frozen to the spot. She didn't know what to do in this situation that presented itself. She honestly couldn't believe Rose was trying to get her and the Doctor together like some sort of match-maker. What had gotten into the blonde to do this? There had been hints and teasing Rose had been doing lately about the two getting together, but she never would have thought Rose would be so blatant about it. Perhaps it was the 21st century side of the girl talking. Then, even more surprising, the Doctor actually made a move toward her. Madison watched as he hopped down from the desk, placing his sonic screwdriver into his inner coat pocket. He seemed to eye her carefully then, standing just a foot from her. Slowly, he held out his hand towards her.

Feeling her heart pounding in her chest, Madison could not believe this was actually happening. She couldn't believe the Doctor actually wanted to dance with her. Should she? It had been so long since she . . . danced. But she wanted to. She wanted to dance with the Doctor. Though what if . . . No. No 'what ifs'. Second-guessing herself was not needed right now. So, throwing caution to the wind, she reached up and placed her hand into his. He pulled her up from the wheelchair, staring intently into her eyes. Everything seemed to melt away from her then. Her body was pleasantly warm as his hand held hers. To her at that moment, it felt as though it were only the two of them in the entire world with the soft melody of Moonlight Serenade playing in the background. She waited for him to make the first move as she was too nervous to start. So she watched as he slowly lifted her hand . . . then turned her palm over to stare at her skin. She blinked, taken back as he seemed intently interested to just stare at her hand carefully.

"Barrage balloon," he muttered.

"What?" she responded mutely.

"You were hanging from a barrage balloon." He grabbed her other hand then, inspecting it now.

"Y-yes. I–I was." Madison swallowed thickly as she felt her heart clench and her stomach drop. The warm pleasant sensation slowly dwindled away. "I think I mentioned that yeah."

The Doctor lifted his eyes briefly towards her. "You said you fell, right?"

"Almost fell. The, um . . . the rope was wrapped around my hand kept me from falling. Though it, ah, broke my hand." She watched as the Doctor stiffened, freezing in the middle of turning her hands over. She blushed in embarrassment admitting her mistake. "I was foolish, honestly. I had wrapped my hand around the rope in hopes of not falling, but a gust of wind shifted the balloon—."

"You broke your hand?" Giving her a look of alarm, the Doctor glanced between her and her hands.

Seeing the worry in his eyes, she moved her hands to give his a squeeze. "Don't worry, Jack patched me up. He used some sort of tiny robots that healed my hand instantly." Tentatively she smiled, still trying to gather herself from getting her hopes crushed. Of course . . . she had been so foolish. Of course, the Doctor didn't want to dance with her. How could he ever want to with the likes of her . . . She stiffened then, her breath catching as the Doctor lifted up her hands and gave them a tender kiss. He flashed her a smile then as he patted her hands.

"I've travelled with a lot of people but you're setting new records for jeopardy friendly," he said as he let go of her hands, letting them drop to her sides. "You and Rose. I swear I don't know how I put up with the two of you." He looked over Madison's shoulder towards their companion, making her realise she had all but forgotten the girl had been watching them. Looking over her shoulder she saw Rose had a disappointed expression as she crossed her arms.

"Sorry about the delay! Had to take the Nav-Com offline to override the teleport security."

The three of them jumped then as Jack's voice sounded right beside them. Madison blinked as she saw the three of them were no longer in the storage room at the hospital. Instead, they were now inside Jack's ship. The music was still playing, making her realise it had covered the sound of them being teleported into his ship. Jack was currently sitting at the captain's chair, grinning at them.

"Most people notice when they've been teleported," Jack said lightly with humour in his tone. His playful smile left quickly then as he glanced at Madison. She wasn't certain, at first, as to why he suddenly seemed so concerned. But then she realised that her expression must have looked like something of heartbreak. To be frank, she still was reeling over the Doctor's rejection. It hurt her more than she would like to admit. However, she turned herself away, not wanting anyone to question how she was feeling or to worry them. Instead, she kept herself occupied by staring at a control panel near the bed on the ship. She heard the Doctor speaking rather curt with Jack then, still sounding rather irritated by Jack's very presence. Tensing, she felt someone touching her shoulder gently. She glanced around to see Rose standing next to her. The blonde gave her an apologetic expression.

"Sorry," Rose mumbled. Madison gave the girl a brief smile, not wanting her friend to think anything about it. She would have a discussion with Rose later. For now, Madison wanted to focus on the infection and get things back under control.

She glanced over to see the Doctor and Jack were still bantering back and forth, discussing something to do with how Jack had required the ship they were standing in. It sounded as though he had stolen it. Not all too surprising, if she were honest. She watched as Rose moved forward when the Doctor snapped his fingers, calling forth a cloud of the nanogenes that hovered around his hand. As he stood there explaining the nanogenes to Rose, Jack caught her eye. Madison looked at him, seeing him giving a sort of gesture towards her and the Doctor as if asking if anything had happened between them. She smiled tightly and shook her head, really wishing not to discuss it right now. Let alone think about it. She had been a fool, and she hated being caught and seen as an idiot. Jack gave her a sympathetic gaze, seeming to know that something had happened but understood that she did not wish to speak of it.

"Take us to the crash site. I need to see your space junk," the Doctor suddenly ordered, earning Jack's attention then.

"Soon as I get the Nav-Com back online," Jack replied smoothly, turning around to work on the computer systems of the ship. "Make yourself comfortable. Carry on with whatever it was you were doing."

Madison let out a sigh as she sat down on the bed, crossing her arms over her stomach as she rested. First being in this decade had ruined her mood. Now the Doctor ignoring the offer to dance with her had thoroughly crushed her spirit. She just wanted to hurry up and get this day over with so she could go to the TARDIS and hide away in her bathroom. She tensed slightly as someone sat next to her. She glanced over, seeing it was the Doctor sitting down and appearing rather disgruntled with having to wait. Like a child pouting when told to wait in line for the candy shop. He never was a patient man. Looking over, she saw Rose was standing near Jack, talking with the man and obviously flirting a bit with him. Well, at least Rose was enjoying herself. She seemed awfully pleased as Jack was happily flirting back with her.

"You all right?" the Doctor questioned her quietly. Madison looked back at him to see him looking at her in concern.

"Yeah," she mumbled, not really wanting to talk right now.

"Sure? 'Cause you look upset," he commented lightly.

Blinking, all she could do was stare at him. She was confused for a moment before it dawned on her. He didn't . . . Did he not realise what had just happened? Was he not comprehending that she wanted to dance with him? Maybe he only thought Rose was teasing them again? Or, perhaps, his species had different sorts of courtships? No, that couldn't be the case. Even a blind man could read the room back there. Right? Unless this wonderful, brilliant man was just completely and utterly dense when it came to these sorts of things.

"I was just, ah, you . . . you sort of . . .," she tried explaining, wondering if she needed to be perfectly frank with him. But glancing over towards Jack and Rose, she really did not wish to have a discussion over her feelings for him right in front of others. Shaking her head, she stood up and said, "I'll talk to you about it later," before going over to where Rose and Jack were.

"So, you used to be a Time Agent and now you're trying to con them?" she heard Rose ask as she walked over to join the conversation. Currently, Jack was sitting in his chair again, working on the different systems that surrounded him.

"If it makes me sound any better, it's not for the money," Jack explained, fiddling with the controls absently as he glanced between Rose and Madison.

"What's the goal, then?" Madison questioned him, curious to know more about his backstory. Jack let out a sigh, turning his full attention to them now.

"Woke up one morning when I was still working for them," he began explaining, "found they'd stolen two years of my memories. I'd like them back."

Rose blinked, taken back by this news. "They stole your memories?"

"That's . . . honestly, that's awful. How can they do that to someone? That's like erasing a person from existence," Madison said, disgusted by such a thing. Memories were precious. To get rid of them, erase them, was as close as to killing the person who held them. Memories were what made people who they were. What made people learn and grow through time. Without them . . .

"Two years of my life. No idea what I did," Jack said, nodding in agreement with her. He had a tight smile as he shook his head. "Your friend over there doesn't trust me. And for all I know, he's right not to."

Giving Jack a look of sympathy, all she could do was feel sorry for him. She didn't know what to say to console him. She could tell it affected Jack greatly with the idea of having done something awful in the past yet not knowing what it was. Or even to have no idea what sort of man he had once been in the absence of the memories. She glanced back towards the Doctor, seeing the lost look in his eyes. There was a look of understanding sent toward Jack before the Doctor appeared to be contemplating the man's story. There came a beep from the controls, making her look back to see Jack smiling away with ease again as he punched in some numbers on the console.

"Okay. We're good to go," he announced, flashing them all with a bright smile. "Crash site?" He turned around in his seat, facing towards the front of the ship as he appeared ready to send them off. Again, with all that flirting, she knew there was more to Jack Harkness than meets the eye. He kept himself well hidden beneath a smiling mask. And honestly, she didn't blame him for it one bit.

XxXxXxXxXx

Jack had managed to get them into an abandoned train yard of some kind. A place that was not too far away from where the crash site and hospital were. It appeared the tracks ran right in the middle of where the crash site was, which led to some easy ways for them to slowly sneak closer to the site without being detected. They all stopped just as they came behind a stack of train equipment, seeing the makeshift wooden fences covered in barbed wire, and guard tents made up of scraps of tarp and wood. In the middle of the fenced-in yard was a large bulk of something covered in a massive tarp. Massive lights were placed up and pointed towards the thing in the centre. Madison wondered how this place hadn't been bombed yet with all the lights being up and on. Maybe they'd just gotten lucky so far. Though that luck would run out soon as she was reminded of Jack's timeline from earlier. How much longer till the German bomb was dropped? She felt as though their time was running short now.

"There it is," Jack pointed out to them as they stood in the shadows of the covered area in the back of the train yard. They watched the different guards stationed at the fenced area. One man was walking around, clearly that of a higher officer. "Hey, they've got Algy on duty. Must be important."

"We've got to get past him," the Doctor muttered, frowning as already she could tell he was trying to think of a clever plan.

"Are the words 'distract the guard' heading in my general direction?" Rose asked coyly.

"Ah, no, there's no way we're putting you out there on your own," Madison said, shaking her head quickly. "Besides, when has that ever worked?"

"You never know. I can put on a lot of charm," Rose replied in humour.

"Not saying you can't. Just think it's a bad idea," Madison said.

"She's right. Not a very good idea," Jack said then, nodding lightly.

"I can handle it," Rose retorted, starting to grow annoyed.

"Oh, I'm sure you could," Jack said, smirking greatly and giving the girl a small wink. "But I've got to know Algy quite well since I've been in town. Trust me, you're not his type. I'll distract him." He started off, giving them a quick wave. "Don't wait up." He hurried off then for the 'distraction'. Madison watched him for a moment before getting her attention shift when seeing the completely shocked expression Rose was showing. Madison raised a brow, finding humour in the girl's reaction.

"What?" Madison questioned lightly, knowing what was amazing Rose but wanting to play along for a moment.

"Did you realise that he . . . But he . . . I mean, the way he was going about it all night . . .," Rose began to question, still obviously stunned.

"Relax. He's a 51st century guy. He's just a bit more flexible when it comes to dancing," the Doctor said, clearly humoured by Rose's reaction as well.

"How flexible?" asked Rose.

"By his time, you lot are spread out across half the galaxy," the Doctor explained.

"Meaning?"

The Doctor smirked then. "So many species, so little time."

Shocked, Rose stared at him in disbelief. "What, that's what we do when we get out there? That's our mission? We seek new life, and, and . . ."

The smirk on the Doctor's face grew. "Dance." He chuckled at Rose's face, clearly greatly amused by this point.

"Honestly, are you really that surprised?" Madison asked.

"And you aren't?" Rose replied in disbelief.

"Rose, you're human. You should know how insatiable you lot are about . . . dancing." Madison sniggered, shaking her head with amusement.

"Right, like you two are any better," Rose said, crossing her arms and rolling her eyes as both the Doctor and Madison laughed quietly. Madison's chuckle died off as she caught the sight of Jack talking to his acquaintance Algy. She gasped as she saw Algy falling to his knees in front of Jack and seeming to be struggling to breathe.

"Something's gone wrong," she breathed. She and Rose followed after the Doctor as he had rushed off the moment she gasped. They heard Jack ordering the other guards to stay away as they came up to the scene. They witnessed Algy transform, his face morphing with a gas mask. Madison felt her stomach churn at the sight of it, but she shook away the feeling as she tried to remain focused and not let it unnerve her.

"The effect's becoming airborne, accelerating," the Doctor said the moment they got closer, staring at the unconscious Algy laying on the ground.

"What's keeping us safe?" Rose questioned weakly.

"Nothing," the Doctor concluded grimly just as the siren of an air raid began to sound off in the distance.

"Ah, here they come again," Jack muttered as he glanced up towards the sky.

"Oh, dear," Madison breathed, seeing that their luck was getting worse and worse as the night went on.

"All we need," said Rose, looking at Jack now. "Didn't you say a bomb was gonna land here?"

"Never mind about that," said the Doctor. "If the contaminant's airborne now, there's hours left."

"Till what?" Jack asked him.

"Till nothing. Forever. For the entire human race," the Doctor explained quickly. He then frowned thoughtfully. "And can anyone else hear singing?"

"Yes, it's coming from this way," Madison told them, turning and walking off as she had started hearing it the moment the sirens went off. It sounded like a woman, singing a lullaby. Why that was, she had no idea, but she wanted to find the woman and fast. Best get the woman to safety before the bomb hit. She reached the small building where the singing was coming from. She went to step inside first, but the Doctor pushed her back. He shook his head, taking a step into the building first. She frowned at this, wondering why he felt the need to hold her back from helping the woman. Maybe he was worried it was a gas-masked zombie?

She peaked around the Doctor's shoulder as he carefully opened the creaking door of the building. From what she could see there was a young woman sitting down and cuffed to a table covered in different drinks and card games. Madison wondered perhaps if this was a girl Rose's age? Maybe younger? It was hard telling. The woman had a very young look to her that it was hard for Madison to judge her age. She did, however, take in the woman's appearance of brown hair done up with pigtails, hands in worn, knitted gloves, and long blue coat. Next to the table, near to the woman, was a man with a gas mask, laying his head on the table as if asleep. The woman gave the Doctor a look of urgency, shaking her wrist to show her being chained to the table. Madison saw how the Doctor motioned for her to keep singing which the woman did with a wavering, frightened voice. Very carefully the Doctor made his way into the building, using his sonic screwdriver to unlock the cuffs. He motioned for the woman to follow him as they both crept out of the building, the woman only halting her song once the Doctor closed the door behind them and locked it.

"Nancy? What are you doing here?" Rose questioned as she came over to them.

"I came for my brother. I needed to know," the woman, Nancy, answered after letting out a breath of relief.

"Oh, you're Nancy?" Madison gave the woman a tentative smile. "It's very nice to meet you. Rose told me about you."

"Yeah, I think Rose mentioned you, too. You're Madison right?" Nancy replied, nodding in greeting. "They were lookin' for you earlier." The woman gave the Doctor a glance. "He wouldn't stop askin' about ya." Madison looked at the Doctor, seeing his face was growing flushed now.

"I asked about other things, too," she heard him grumbling as he walked away and headed towards the centre of the crash site. The idea of him being worried about her before made her both guilty of having upset him, and somewhat oddly pleased that he had been that focused on finding her. She couldn't help but let the small smile form on her face as she followed after everyone else. Once they reached where the large object was, the Doctor had Jack help him yank the massive tarp off of it. It revealed the same thing that Jack had shown them earlier. A cylinder that had a strange rust colour to it that was half buried into the ground where it had crashed.

"You see? Just an ambulance," Jack said, waving a hand to it to show that he had not been lying after all. Though Madison still felt there was a catch to all this. It was just too much of a coincidence. He went around the side of it, starting to work on a control panel of some kind that was on the side of it. The Doctor stood close by while he worked.

"That's an ambulance?" Nancy questioned sceptically.

"It's hard to explain. It's from another world," Rose told her.

"They've been trying to get in," Jack spoke up, earning everyone's attention.

"Of course they have. They think they've got their hands on Hilter's latest secret weapon," the Doctor said, watching Jack typing away at the keypad on the control panel. "What are you doing?"

"The sooner you see this thing's empty, the sooner you'll know I had nothing to do with it," Jack told him, seeming to grow frustrated as he jabbed at the keypad. It was then that the control panel sparked greatly, making them all flinch and back away as it sizzled with electricity. An alarm started then, ringing out into the night. Jack and the Doctor shared a look. "Didn't happen last time."

"It hadn't crashed last time," the Doctor retorted as Jack tried working on the control panel again. "There'll be emergency protocols."

"What sort of 'protocols'?" Madison questioned then. "What does the alarm mean?" She jumped slightly while Rose yelped when hearing banging on metal doors beginning. They looked over, seeing the locked door to the building they had freed Nancy from swaying as it was banged on from the other side. Apparently, the unconscious man they had left in there had woken up and was now ready to come after them.

"Doctor!" Rose called, getting the Time Lord to notice what was happening.

"Captain, secure those gates," the Doctor ordered Jack quickly.

"Why?" Jack questioned sceptically.

"Just do it!" exclaimed the Doctor in frustration. Jack hesitated for a moment before hurrying off to do as he was told. "Nancy, how did you get in here?"

"I cut the wire," Nancy answered him, pointing towards where she had snuck in.

"Show Rose," he ordered, tossing Rose his screwdriver. "Setting two thousand four hundred twenty-eight D."

"What?" Rose gawked at him, clearly barely understanding that.

"Reattaches bared wire. Go!" He waved for her to leave, working on the ambulance to see if he could stop the alarm.

Madison watched as Rose and Nancy hurried off before going over to where the Doctor was working. Apparently he was looking for another control panel for the thing. "What can I do to help?" she asked hurriedly, feeling useless with just standing there.

"See if you can secure any other exits. Can't be too sure if they made other gates into this place," the Doctor instructed her. Nodding, she hurried off to do just that. Though it didn't take her long to accomplish her task. Apparently there was only one way in and out of the place. Though she made certain to check for any weaknesses in the fencing. It was built in a hurry. Mistakes could have been made in defences. But when she found nothing she made her way swiftly back over to the Doctor.

"There's nothing. Just the one way in and out," she told him, crouching down beside him from where he was working on checking the buried portion of the ambulance. "And the fence was put up well so it'll hold . . . for the time being."

"Good," he muttered, brows furrowing as she could see the frustration building for him. It was obvious he hated not being able to do anything in a situation like this.

"Be honest . . . what are our chances looking like?" she questioned him quietly. He gave her a grim look, but something in her expression must have worried him for he quickly plastered on a smile.

"We've been through worse. I think we can handle this, don't you?" he replied in encouragement.

"Yeah. Sort of reminds me of the Gleth," she admitted, glancing over to see Jack finishing up chaining the gate, and Rose and Nancy walking away from the fence. "But, um, I think we mostly got lucky getting out of that situation, if I'm honest."

"Yeah, that's how I get things done usually. Plain dumb luck." The Doctor gave her a bright grin before standing up as Jack and the others came back over. His grin was gone as he gave Jack a strict gaze. "I've got it unlocked now."

"Excellent." Jack reached over, prying and pulling down a metal section of the ambulance. He smiled proudly when showing them an empty vessel. Clearly nothing inside of it. "It's empty. Look at it."

"What do you expect in a Chula medical transporter? Bandages? Cough drops?" the Doctor retorted smartly, arms crossed tightly as he eyed Jack with a levelled gaze. It was then that Madison let out a small gasp, realising what had been done.

"Oh, no, it wasn't . . . was it?" she breathed, looking to the Doctor for answers. "There weren't nanogenes in there, were there?"

"Bingo," he replied, nodding to her. Then, he eyed Jack harshly once again. "It wasn't empty, Captain. There was enough nanogenes in there to rebuild a species."

"Oh, god," Jack uttered, stepping back from the ambulance as though he were going to be sick. Madison could see the colour from his face draining away. He looked at them all in complete dismay.

The Doctor simply eyed the man coolly, unforgiving of the man's mistake. "Getting it now, are we? When the ship crashes, the nanogense escape. Billions upon billions of them. Ready to fix all the cuts and bruises in the whole world. But what they find first is a dead child. Probably killed earlier that night and wearing a gas mask."

"And they brought him back to life?" Rose questioned in disbelief. "They can do that?"

"What's life? Life's easy. A quirk of matter. Nature's way of keeping meat fresh. Nothing to a nanogene," the Doctor replied easily, unphased by the idea of bringing people back from the dead. "One problem, though. These nanogenes, they're not like the ones on your ship. This lot have never seen a human being before. Don't know what a human being's supposed to look like. All they've got to go on is one little body, and there's not a lot left. But they carry right on. They do what they're programmed to, they patch it up. Can't tell what's gas mask and what's skull, but they do their best. And then off they fly, off they go, work to be done. 'Cause you see, now they think they know what people should look like, and it's time to fix all the rest. And they won't ever stop." The Doctor looked at Jack squarely then, eyes flaring in rage as his voice raised. "They won't ever, ever stop. The entire human race is gonna be torn down and rebuilt in the form of one terrified child looking for its mother. And nothing in the world can stop it!"

"I didn't know!" Jack exclaimed, obviously insisting on his innocence in this. But it was too late for 'I didn't know'. It was too late for them all. While she saw the Doctor throwing the Captain one more sharp glare before turning and walking over to the end of the ambulance to inspect it further, she looked at Jack with a bit more sympathy. She understood it was a mistake and that he truly felt horrible for what had been done. But it was a mistake that could cost everyone their lives in the worst possible way.

Jack turned to Madison then, desperate for someone to be on his side. "You believe me, right?"

"Of course, I believe you. Still doesn't mean you didn't mess up and now need to help us fix this," she told him, giving in a stern gaze. "When you've created a mess, you need to be willing to get dirty in fixing it. Are you willing to do what it takes to undo the wrongs you've created, Captain?" She saw the uncertainty in his eyes before she turned away from him, heading over to the Doctor.

"Rose!" Nancy called out then, alerting them all to the crowd of gas-masked people that were heading their way down the tracks. The distant calls of 'mummy' echoed towards them through the night. More could be heard banging on the gates of the fenced yard, obviously trying to tear their way towards them.

"It's bringing the gas mask people here, isn't it?" Rose asked urgently, growing increasingly worried now.

"The ship thinks it's under attack. It's calling up the troops. Standard protocol," the Doctor answered while he fiddled with some wires that were sticking out of a broken side of the ambulance.

"It's changed them to be troops?" Madison asked him, stunned by this news. "How?"

"This is a battlefield ambulance. The nanogenes don't just fix you up, they get you ready for the frontline. Equip you. Programme you," the Doctor explained quickly.

"That's why the child's so strong?" Rose wondered aloud. "Why it could do that phoning thing?"

The Doctor nodded as he stood up, facing the incoming crowd of empty people. "It's a fully equipped Chula warrior, yes. All that weapons tech in the hands of an hysterical four-year-old looking for his mummy and now there's an army of them." They looked around as they noticed more of this 'army' were arriving at all sides, surrounding the fence and blocking them in.

"Why don't they attack?" Jack asked, confused by the empty people simply standing there now, staring at the five of them.

"Good little soldiers. Waiting for their commander," the Doctor explained as he eyed all those who surrounded them.

Jack looked back at the Doctor. "The child?"

"Jamie," Nancy spoke up then, throwing Jack a look of reproach.

Jack blinked, taken aback by her response. "What?"

"Not 'the child'. Jamie," the young woman said firmly.

"Oh . . . he was your brother, right?" Madison asked Nancy gently, seeing how the tears were beginning to well up in the young woman's eyes. Nancy lowered her eyes as though in shame, not responding to Madison's question. This confused Madison somewhat. Why be ashamed of being the boy's sister? It seemed odd.

"So how long until the bomb falls?" Rose asked then.

"Any second," Jack answered edgily.

"What's the matter, Captain? Bit close to the volcano for you?" the Doctor said curtly.

"He's just a little boy." Nancy began to cry, tears running down her face.

The Doctor gave the woman a short nod. "I know."

"He's just a boy who wants his mummy." As Nancy cried more, Madison gave a curious thought then. She could see the welling of deep sadness in the young woman's eyes. Grief that was clear for all to see. But this was not the grief of a sister. No . . . this was something else. Something Madison had the unfortunate case of witnessing quite a few times in her life.

"Why haven't you told him who his mother is? Because that's something a sister would do. They'd tell their little brothers who their mummies are. But you kept it hidden for a reason, didn't you?" Madison asked her then, being careful with her words. Nancy looked at her, eyes wavering with a mixture of guilt and fear. "Why keep it a secret, Nancy?"

"It's all my fault," Nancy whimpered, crying harder now.

Madison stepped over, comforting the woman with a hug. "Oh, sweetie, it's okay. I understand." Over Nancy's shoulder, she saw the look of realisation cross the Doctor's face then. His eyes went slightly wide in awe before he stepped up closer to Nancy and Madison.

"Nancy, what age are you? Twenty? Twenty-one? Older than you look, yes?" he began to question carefully. Madison stepped back, allowing Nancy to stare at him. A loud explosion sounded off close by with the light of the fire flickering across their faces briefly.

"Doctor, that bomb, we've got seconds," Jack stated urgently. His words were followed by another bomb that hit even closer to the site.

"You can teleport us out," Rose tried suggesting.

"Not you guys. The Nav-Com's back online. Gonna take too long to override the protocols," he responded quickly.

"So it's Volcano Day. Do what you've got to do," the Doctor remarked, only giving Jack a meaningful look for a second before turning his sole focus on Nancy. Madison could only watch as Jack gave her a troubled expression, appearing greatly unnerved now. He then held up his slim silver remote and pressed the button on it, eyes locked to hers as he teleported away. Madison ignored the sting of his abandonment, trying to keep centred and help the situation at hand.

"How old were you five years ago? Fifteen? Sixteen? Old enough to give birth, anyway," the Doctor continued to ask Nancy, pressing for the truth. "He's not your brother, is he?" Nancy squeezed her eyes shut, more tears leaking down her face as she shook her head. Sympathetic towards the poor woman, Madison touched her arm gently.

"You were young. You were scared. You knew they would take him away if they found out," she spoke softly.

"You hid. You lied. You even lied to him," the Doctor spoke with her in agreement, empathetic towards the young woman. All of them stared towards the gate as it was busted open. The chain fell away and hit the ground. The doors swung wide open as the army of gas-masked people were advancing. The one leading the troops was Jamie, standing in front of them all and staring directly at Nancy.

"Are you my mummy?" Jamie asked then, his voice the same curious tone as ever. Madison felt Nancy shiver beside her. It was obvious that this was a question she had heard repeatedly. It must have been a question that tormented her. Madison couldn't even imagine the pain Nancy must have gone through in lying to her own son, over and over again.

"He's gonna keep asking, Nancy," the Doctor went on. "He's never gonna stop."

"Go to him. He deserves the truth," Madison said, being as gentle as possible, trying to get Nancy to understand that there was no more lying. Not now. Not in a situation like this. If they were going to become empty like Jamie . . . best give some closure to the child before it all ended. Nancy seemed to understand, nodding as she sniffled and stepped towards Jamie. The boy met her in the middle, stopping before his mother. He kept asking his question, tilting his head as he stared at her. Nancy crouched down, bringing herself to his level.

"Yes, I am your mummy," she cried, tears running down her face. "I'm here. I'm here. Yes. I am your mummy. I will always be your mummy. I'm so sorry." She reached for him, wrapping him into a tight hug. It was then that a thousand tiny lights surrounded her and Jamie. The mass of nanogenes swarming around the two of them. Madison held her breath. Rose let out a sound of alarm, though the Doctor shushed her.

"Come on. Please!" he urged, staring intently at the sight. "Come on, you clever little nanogenes. Figure it out. The mother, she's the mother. It's gotta be enough information. Figure it out." The trio continued to watch with anticipation, seeing how the nanogenes kept swimming around, enveloping the two. The Doctor began to grin. "See? Recognizing the same DNA." Jamie let go of his mother then and Nancy fell back a bit. The nanogenes floated away, disappearing into thin air. The Doctor strode forward, keeping his attention solely on the boy. "Oh, come on. Give me a day like this. Give me this one." He then reached forward and pulled away the gas mask. Jamie blinked, his large blue eyes staring at them all, dazed and appearing a bit bewildered.

Letting out a sound of absolute delight, the Doctor scooped Jamie up and held the boy in merriment, grinning away like a madman the whole way. "Welcome back!" the Doctor exclaimed. "Twenty years to pop music, you're gonna love it." He laughed as he hugged the boy.

"What happened?" Nancy asked, alarmed but relieved to see her son back with her.

"The nanogenes recognised the superior information. The parent DNA. They didn't change you because you changed them." Letting out a gleeful laugh, the Doctor set Jamie down for Nancy to hug her son. "Mother knows best." Madison couldn't help but let out a laugh of glee, joyful in the boy's well-being. The Doctor grinned widely at her then and she beamed in return.

"Doctor, that bomb," Rose called to attention as another bomb was heard falling nearby.

Grinning away, the Doctor beamed at them all. "Taken care of it."

It was then that they heard the whistle of a bomb descending down upon them. Madison glanced upwards, watching as the German bomb soared through the night straight towards them. Tensing for a moment and watching with bated breath, she was relieved when seeing Jack's ship suddenly fly up swiftly. The tractor beam shot out in its blue light, catching the bomb just feet away from them. The ship, with the beam still holding the bomb in place, hovered over them as Jack suddenly appeared sitting on the bomb. Grinning at the man, she found herself happy to see him once again. Not just because he saved them, either.

"Good catch, Captain!" she cheered, waving at him.

"I'm always a good catch," Jack replied back smoothly, winking at her. She rolled her eyes playfully, shaking her head in amusement. Jack then looked at the Doctor. "The bomb's already started detonation. I've put it in stasis, but it won't last long."

"Change of plan! Don't need the bomb," the Doctor told him. "Can you get rid of it, safely as you can?"

Jack nodded, looking at Madison then and putting on a bright smile. "Maddie?"

"Yes?" Madison blinked, somewhat bewildered by the smile of his as it seemed like that of finality.

"Goodbye." Jack gave her one last wide smile before disappearing along with the bomb. It was only a second later that he reappeared. "By the way! I will get you to dance with me someday," he said, followed by a wink.

Madison couldn't help but laugh. "Okay, fine, one dance. But I'm not apologising for my two left feet." She smiled as she earned herself a laugh from Jack before he was gone again. His ship flew away, swiftly speeding off into the sky high above. She knew in no time he would be all the way into space where he could safely take care of the bomb. Her attention was shifted from staring towards the sky, now watching the Doctor as he had stepped away from them all and had a swarm of bright nanogenes surrounding him.

"What're you doing?" Rose asked him curiously.

"Software patch. Gonna email the upgrade," the Doctor replied easily, smiling cheerfully at the sight of the nanogenes around him. "You want moves, Rose. I'll give you moves." He then flung his hands outwards towards the gas-masked people who still stood at attention towards the entrance of the site. Madison watched in awe as the nanogenes surrounded the people, swarming in a million lights. The people slumped down to the ground in the haze of yellow lights before one by one they started to raise. Each one of them blinked in a daze and stared around them in bewilderment. She let out a laugh of joy, beyond amazed to see all of them were fine and healthy once again.

"Everybody lives. Just this once! Everybody lives!" exclaimed the Doctor, smiling away in such happiness it was contagious. Madison walked over to give him a hug of glee. One which he returned eagerly and was laughing with such cheer that her smile grew even more. They pulled away from one another, just smiling away like fools. Staring into his bright blue eyes, she could see such joy in him then. Joy that she wished to see on him more in the future. For he truly was shining to her. His smile, his laughter, meant everything to her. If she could make sure they had more days like this . . . then maybe this would be how she finally helped him heal from all his pain. From all his suffering. She could truly help him become that man he so desperately wanted to be again. To help him be a Doctor.

XxXxXxXxXx

The joy continued through the night for the Doctor. She watched, with silent merriment, the utter excitement that buzzed through him. He was a little maniac about it all if she were honest. But it was so fun to simply watch him ramble away in his mirth and bounce around the place with such lightness in him. It showed her a piece of what sort of man he used to be before the war. Before he let his darkness hold him down. It made her wonder if this was the sort of thing he always searched for. Days of which he could save so many lives and chase that high of enthusiasm. He truly wanted to save lives, all of them, as much as he could. Not to bring ruin, but to simply help. It reminded her much of the desire Mers had to help fix broken minds. It was the same feeling they would get in the success of helping a poor lost soul. That meant that Mer and the Doctor were almost one and the same in that sense. She wondered if all Time Lords were like this. Or maybe if it were simply him. Just something that made the Doctor even more special in this universe.

Currently, they were back in the TARDIS, with the Doctor bouncing around the console in his joy and rambling on about what he had done to the ambulance (destroyed it after everyone left) and the nanogenes that would shut off after repairing everyone. Her mind wandered back to the crash site they had left, thinking of the ambulance and nanogenes. This led to thoughts of Captain Jack. Her happiness flattered away as she frowned in thought.

"I hate to interrupt, but we've got one more life to save today," she said then, halting the Doctor from his happy dance. He blinked before frowning somewhat.

"What?" he asked in confusion.

"Who?" Rose wondered curiously.

"Jack. I know a final goodbye when I hear one. He's gone off to die with that bomb, hasn't he?" Madison said, looking at them both. The Doctor kept frowning while Rose's eyes went wide in alarm.

"He's going to die?!" Rose turned to the Doctor in outrage. "He's going to die and you're gonna let that happen?!"

"No, obviously, I'm not gonna," the Doctor retorted, rolling his eyes. "I was just going to let him sit there a bit and think about what he's done." Seeing the disapproving looks from the two women, the Doctor let out a loud sigh. "Okay, fine. I'm getting him. I got him." He hit different controls around the console, making the TARDIS shake in departure. Before long the ship settled and the Doctor waved to the door. "There. He's just outside. Someone get the idiot before the bomb goes off."

Madison went over quickly to the door, opening it to find the TARDIS had parked inside of Jack's ship. She chuckled quietly as she saw Jack sipping on a drink, leaning back in his captain's chair as he appeared to be conceding with his fate. He lifted his drink as he smiled calmly.

"Thanks for everything, computer. It's been great," he said, taking a gulp from his drink. "Ah, and to Maddie." He lifted his glass again, smirking. "Here's to hoping she gets to dance one day. Too bad it won't be me. I would have swept her off her feet."

"Oh, not a chance. And stop being so dramatic," she scoffed, snickering as she earned his attention finally. He turned his seat around, eyes wide in amazement as he saw her standing there in the doorway of the TARDIS. She smirked at him playfully. "Don't sit there all day. There's a bomb about to go off you know." Jack scrambled to get up from his seat, swiftly going over to her. He looked over her shoulder into the TARDIS interior.

"What? . . . How?" he asked, clearly blown away by what he was seeing.

"Pretty amazing, isn't she?" Madison replied smoothly, grinning as she patted the side of the doorway. She grinned as she felt a pleasing note in her mind and saw the lights of the TARDIS flickering happily.

"Hurry up! And close the doors. There's gonna be a draft," the Doctor suddenly called out to them. Madison stepped into the ship, allowing Jack to step fully into the TARDIS. She closed the doors behind him. "Welcome to the TARDIS," said the Doctor as he pulled a lever down.

"Much bigger on the inside," Jack noted, slowly getting over his shock as he stared around the console room.

"You'd better be," the Doctor responded rather strictly, eyeing the Captain coolly.

"Be nice," Madison countered, throwing the Doctor a look that said 'patience'. She smiled as the Doctor merely rolled his eyes, moving around the rotor column to hide from her view. "Think of this as a second chance, Captain. Don't blow it." She gave Jack a pointed look, earning a nod from him. He smiled then, seeming pleased with the idea of earning himself another chance to show her the real him. No cons this time. No mistakes that caused harm.

"Does that second chance include a dance?" he asked, giving a very cheeky grin. She snorted in response, unbelieving that he would still focus so hard on 'dancing' at this point. Blinking, she was taken back when music suddenly started playing in the TARDIS. The console room lights began to flash merrily along with the beat and she recognised the song to be In The Mood. A song she had not heard in a very long time. Then, astonishingly, she watched as the Doctor came around the console from where he had been hiding. Snapping his fingers, bouncing in step, he grinned like a maniac at her.

"Madison, I just remembered! I can dance!" he declared brightly, coming over to her swiftly then and taking her by surprise in sweeping her away from Jack's reaches. She barely caught the pointed look he threw Jack's way before he was all smiles again and steering her around the console in merriment. She couldn't help but laugh away with delight as she tried her best to match his steps. Rose caught her eye at one point with a thumbs up and an unashamed grin. Before long, Madison saw both Jack and Rose dancing alongside the Doctor and her. Everyone began to laugh now without a care in the world.

She did not know how it happened. The Doctor and her were dancing along, both of them enjoying it tremendously as shown by the large grins on their faces. Madison knew she was overjoyed to finally have a chance to dance with the Doctor. She had not felt this giddy in such a long time. She almost felt like she was a hundred years old again. She was so caught up in the moment that she barely noticed anything else around her. Her focus was solely on the Doctor. Only him. The euphoria of the moment helped her feel so alive and carefree. He dipped her over at one point, making her laugh as he grinned slyly at her. Then he was holding her upright again and the moment froze for them. Their eyes locked together. She was lost in the sea of blue as she gazed at him. She took in every detail of his face. The beauty of it. Wonderful warmth spread through her as her entire being was drawn to him. Everything melted away as it was him. Only him.

"Get a room you two!" came Rose's laughter.

Madison's eyes went wide as she and the Doctor broke apart. She was left breathless as it hit her that they had just been locked in a kiss. Not like the kisses they had shared before. No, this had been a kiss. One that left her speechless, frightened, and elated. She feared that she had acted on her own and had pushed the Doctor into something he did not want. But the look on his face told her that he had acted on his own accord. She wanted to be elated about the kiss as they had finally shared something deeper than simple gestures as before. Even if she feared what this would mean for them both. But her fears grew for a different reason as the Doctor's face morphed into a stoney expression. His arms were still around her waist, but he quickly removed them and stepped back from her. He turned from her then, walking stiffly over to the console and sending the TARDIS into the Time Vortex.

"Rose, show Jack to a room, yeah?" the Doctor asked absently before he stomped out of the console room and down the corridor, leaving the rest of them in stunned silence.

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Quick answer for a question a reviewer had: Thanks for the review! How I write my chapters is most certainly several in advance. I like to have things planned out before I post a chapter.

I hope everyone enjoyed the chapter! Please leave a review if you did. Thanks in advance!