The night was longer than any others that Jacques could remember as he stayed huddled in the caves with the children who were still alive. None of them were able to sleep despite their exhaustion as explosions continued to shake their home. Jacques held his sons and hoped silently that the next one would be the last. That the Time Lord wouldn't find them hidden in the caves. He could only take solace in the fact that if they were found he would soon be with his wife and his Emma. He bit back the tears. There would be a time to cry over everyone that had been lost this horrible day but now wasn't it.

"Everyone gather around," He called out softly. The children moved closer to him. Their faces were begging him for answers that he didn't have. He didn't know why the Time Lord had come to their home nor why he had destroyed their village. "I am going to tell you a story."

"I am to old for stories," One of the older children replied.

"Then please be quiet and listen for the ones who still want to hear it," Jacques answered unphased. Though the child had said he didn't want to listen he remained close to the group. Jacques looked over at them all before he began to speak. It was an old story that he had heard from his grandfather. The story came from a time when man still believed the gods lived up on the mountain tops. He remembered his grandfather pointing to the highest point on the peninsula and saying.

"Just there Jacques, can you see them?" Of course he couldn't, but he had tried. The stories had given him hope though and that is what the children needed right now. Pulling his sons in closer he began to speak.

"Once, a long time ago there lived a man. He was just an ordinary man like you or me, but the gods had looked on him favorably for he was a good man. He didn't know this though for he thought his life was meaningless. He lived in a small one room shack on the outskirts of a poor village. He had no wife and no sons to carry on his name. Everyday was also the same for him. Waking up at dawn he would head to the village to try to sell seeds or cloth or anything that would allow him a meal that night. Some days he would earn a piece of silver and others he would head home empty handed. He thought his life would never change. That was until he met her..."

-DW-

The night was also long for the people aboard the TARDIS. The Master hooked his TARDIS up to the Doctor's to find the vortex. It was going to take a lot more work then they expected though for her to be able to ride the vortex successfully. The energy in this universe was still slowly poisoning her and while the repairs he had made before they left stopped her from dying right away, it would still only be a matter of time unless they fixed it. The Master thankfully understood his connection to the TARDIS without the Doctor having to explain it. They could have used an extra hand but now was not the time to go and get the other Time Lords. Nor could they pull Jack from the medi-bay.

Emma's leg had been set and was in a small white cast that was being held up from the bed. They had her covered with a soft blue blanket that they taken from another room in the TARDIS. Martha and Marta had cleaned her up and changed her into a night dress that the TARDIS had provided for the child. She was sleeping still and an oxygen mask had been placed over her mouth and nose to assist in her breathing. Despite all their precautions and making sure the medication was correct, Emma had still responded poorly to being sedated.

Jack felt as helpless as he had with his own Emma as he watched her. From what he could tell she was a fighter and he had hope that she was going to be all right. Enough people had died today and he wasn't going to let Emma be one of them. They were going to save the little girl and then find her family. If they couldn't find her family, Jack was going to take her in and raise her. He reached out and took the little hand into his.

"She was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen," Jack continued a story that he had heard as a child on the Boshane Peninsula. He didn't believe the story but his father had swore it was true.

"Just because you can't prove the story Jack, doesn't make it any less real," his father had told him. Jack though had been determined to climb the mountain one day and find the Gods. He wanted to yell at them for taking his father and his brother. Yet by the time he was old enough he could, he had long ago stopped believing they were up there watching down on him.

"The man knew that he had to make the woman his wife but what did he have to offer her. A one room shack was no place to raise a family. Also how could he keep them fed when he could barely feed himself. So instead of telling her how he felt he watched her from afar. This displeased the Gods though as they wanted the man to be happy as he was a good man..."