Disclaimer: I DO NOT own Doctor Who in any way.

Two

Captain Jack Harkness smiled slightly as he stood within the glittering copper control room of the TARDIS once more. He still remembered that day back on the Game station, the day they left him behind. He'd thought his heart was going to break...mind you he also could have sworn that he was dead meat when those Daleks cornered him...not so. He knew now that that was Rose. Rose was the one that had saved him. He didn't know how, or why but she had, and now, finally , he could thank her and the Doctor for all they had done that day, and hopefully he could lend a hand..

He stood, rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet, hands buried deep in his pockets. This wasn't like the Doctor, Jack had been stood here for at least five minutes, the alarm blaring all the while. Last time this had happened, the Doctor had bounded in here, all smiles and heaps of energy, spoiling for a fight. He hadn't got one then either. Rose had been hot on his heels, all wide eyed and tousle haired. Beautiful then. Probably still just as beautiful.

Growing tired of waiting, Jack took off down one of the many corridors of the TARDIS. The one that lead to Roses' room. "Rose?" he called to the darkness. "Rose are you here? Doctor?" Something wasn't right, it was too quiet. It wasn't the ordinary silence, it was heavy. Almost repressive. "Doctor are you here?" he heard a voice, somewhere on the corridor. It was a mans voice, too far away to be intelligible, but close enough to worry him, to capture his interest and Captain Jack Harkness was never one to shirk a challenge.

He crept down the corridor, exercising all of his stealth and concelement skills, which, lets be honest, weren't all that fantastic. The voice grew louder, clearer as he neared the end of the walk, as he neared Rose' room. Filled with dread he dropped the whole concealment and stealth act and pulled her door open. He expected to find some weird and wonderful alien creature threatening the petite blonde. Instead he was confronted with the Doctor, sound asleep on her bed. Well, he said sound, yet he was far from it.

The Doctor was sprawled there, spread-eagled, like he was being crucified. He was calling out, random words with no apparent common ground, some Jack recognised, others were quite obviously alien. What did that mean? The TARDIS translated alien speech automatically so he shouldn't be hearing them like he was...that could only mean one thing...something was very wrong with the Doctor. Speaking of the Doctor...if Jack didn't know any better he would have doubted that the man before him was said being. He looked so different...yet he felt the same, his presence was no different, Jack knew without question that this was truly his friend and ally.

He reached out to him, hoping to rouse him from his slumber, only to stop himself inches from his friends shoulder. Waking someone when they were sleep walking wasn't the safest thing to do, could cause all sorts of damage, or so they said. Did the same apply to those that were dreaming, rather violently and vocally. Jack raised his eyebrows as the Doctor lashed out. Whatever unlucky spectre was haunting his friends' dreams, it had Jacks' pity. It was then he heard her name.

"Rose...I'm sorry!"

That piqued Jacks' interest further. Why was the Doctor apologising? That was something he never did, not ever. Not even to Rose. Not if he could help it.

"Rose! Come back to me please!" The Doctor squirmed again. "Why did I let it happen! Rose, I..." Unable to restrain himself any longer, Jack reached out and shook the tousle-haired brunet.

"Doc...Doctor, wake up."

He suddenly sat up, almost sending Jack toppling onto the floor, only the later caught himself on the nearby shelf.

"Morning." Jack regained his feet with a smile. "Sorry 'bout the noise but I forgot the code." he quirked a smile, glancing at the Doctor. In the muted light from a single bulb he could see silvery trails on the Doctors cheeks. Distinct tear stains...things were getting weirder and weirder. The Doctor made no acknowledgement of Jack, staring straight ahead, at something beyond the shining wall. "Sorry about barging in like this, but I was in the area and thought I would drop in, visit my favourite Doctor and blonde." he looked round the room. "and where is Miss Tyler? Safe to assume not with you...though I don't know, you could have her hidden under those covers, you sly dog..."

"She's gone Jack. She's dead. I killed her." The Doctor was suddenly on his feet and almost out the door.

It took a few seconds for his words to have their full effect. "Whoa Doc', slow down. What do you mean you killed her? I don't, I can't believe that you...I mean...you're The Doctor." he finished rather lamely, trailing behind the Doctor.

"Shows how little you know Jack. Just shows you." he found himself in the control room once more, his ears assaulted by the TARDIS 'intruder alert.' He stomped around, slamming his hands down on this control and that, flitting from console to console only pausing briefly. His movements reminded Jack of a moth round a flame, drawing closer and closer to it, putting itself in more and more danger of being burned. Finally the alarm was silenced, but the Doctor continued slamming around the room, avoiding Jack like the plague.

"Doctor," Jack approached him carefully. The man before him was a completely unknown quantity, and he wasn't sure how to handle the situation. So he decided to handle it in that famous Jack Harkness manner- feet-first with all the tact of a brick through a window. "What the hell are you talking about? You wouldn't...in fact...I don't think you could kill Rose, not even if the world depended on it. So what are you talking about?"

"She's dead Jack, back on Earth. Rose Tyler is no more." he sighed heavily. "and it's all my fault. I should have tried harder, sent her back to Pete again so she didn't have to...so I didn't...I should have made sure that..."

"There seems to be a heck of a lot of unknowns and 'what ifs' there Doc'. They don't normally have much of a standing with you really. Doc', what happened?"

Hesitating slightly, the Doctor buried his hands deep in his pockets, rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet. A gesture that Jack recognised as that of a man cornered, about to impart some great secret. "They took her from me, the Cybermen. They came through the Void, following the...following the Daleks." Jack felt his jaw drop. "They broke through somehow and the Cybermen came through behind them. It was all out war on Earth, between the Daleks, Cybermen and Us. I had to close the breach. I sent Rose away, but she came back, she wouldn't leave. Anyway, to cut a long story short... I thought we'd won, thought she was staying with me...but then she fell...she would have ended up trapped in the Void if it hadn't been for Pete Tyler coming back through and catching her. Now though, she's in one world and I'm in the other. We'll never meet again." he looked directly at Jack, who couldn't help but recoil slightly. His dark brown, chocolately eyes were clouded, and damp with tears that were threatening to fall once more.

There was such a mix of emotions there, some that Jack didn't even think the Doctor could feel, after all, he was new to the whole emotions thing. It had only been in his last regeneration or two that he'd started getting a hold on them. His eyes seemed to herald the 'Oncoming Storm' of Dalek legend. It seemed to Jack that he was only just holding himself together.

"And I'm scared Jack...I loved her so much." Jack couldn't help but smile slightly. It was about time he admitted that to himself. Jack had known for a long time and the Game station only served to strengthen his convictions. "I don't want to be alone...she served to remind me of what I have lost...and helped me get past it...she made me whole again; and I'm scared that now she's gone, that she's left like everyone has in the end, I'm scared that I will never feel that again. I'm scared that I'm always going to be alone." he shook his head slightly. "Listen to me, a Time Lord, afraid of being alone, when I have all of Time and Space to fear." he shook his head slightly. "Anyway...why are you here?"

"I've already told you...was in the area so thought I'd drop by." the Doctor didn't even question it, didn't have a flippant remark or observation. He was so out of sorts. He just tinkered with his beloved TARDIS, ignoring everything and everyone around him. Jack merely shrugged. That was the Doctor all over really. He pushed everyone away so they wouldn't be hurt by him, or hurt him. It was a defence. But like Reinette said, the Doctor was worth the monsters, he was worth it all.

Jack glanced at the sad, lonely, hunched figure by the console. He was half the man he once knew. He wished he could help him, but he couldn't...or could he? Tearing his eyes from the tortured soul before him, Jack headed off on an exploration of the TARDIS.