Author's Note: YAY! I've finally had some time to really write the last couple days. Hope y'all are enjoying it as much as I have.

Chapter Fourteen

Jen, Rose, and even Jack took turns sitting with the Doctor over the next twenty-four hours, keeping a quiet vigil as his body fought against fever and injury brought on by his ordeal with his captors. It was late the next day when Jen quietly slipped into the room, mug of tea in her hands, to keep Rose company.

"How is he?" she asked, settling down into a comfortable chair and tucking her knees up to her.

Rose was seated on the edge of the bed, bathing his face with a cool cloth. "He seems to be dreaming," she replied. "He keeps calling out different names. He's said my name a couple of times, and yours too. And then he called for a Moran and a Leani."

Jen's heart twisted and a soft smile tugged at her lips. "Moran was my brother and Leani my sister," she explained, softly. Setting her mug aside, she slipped from the chair and knelt next to the bed. Gently, she rested her fingertips on his temple and closed her eyes.

"What are you doing?" Rose asked, softly.

"Easing his dreams," Jen replied. "He'll probably fight me, but I'm the stronger telepath so he'll lose."

"Strange that you're stronger even though he's your father," Rose observed.

Jen looked genuinely surprised when her eyes flew open and she looked up at Rose. "I've got stronger Gallifreyan blood in my veins," she replied. She eyed Rose closely. "Or didn't you know that he's half human?"

Rose's eyes widened. "No, I didn't," she replied. "He never mentioned it."

Smiling, Jen nodded. "My grandmother was human, making him half-human, and me one-quarter human." She closed her eyes to resume probing gently into his mind. "It's the Time Lord in us that makes us telepathic. While he will fight me, I don't think he's in a state to put up much of a fight."

Rose watched, fascinated, as Jen went to work. The other woman's brow instantly furrowed when she made the connection, and Rose could see the Doctor tense and, as predicted, fight against the intrusion. Rose gently patted his face with the damp rag to soothe him, encouraging him to give into Jen's gentle probing. After several minutes, she could see him visibly begin to relax, and then fall into a deep sleep.

Jen's eyes slid open and she stood slowly. "There, now," she said, her voice barely above a whisper. "He should sleep better now."

"What was he dreaming about?" Rose asked in a voice that was just as hushed.

Silence hung between them for several minutes. Jen's eyes never left her father's face. "Arcadia," she finally said, taking a small sip of tea. "I'm not sure that my presence has completely registered in his mind, but it's enough to bring back unpleasant memories."

"What happened at Arcadia?" Rose asked. "He'll never talk about it, not really." She paused and glanced over at him. "I've heard him called a killer, and even the killer of his own kind, but he's never told me exactly what happened."

Jen visibly winced at the words Rose spoke. "Whoever said that did not know what they were speaking about," she replied fiercely.

"Then what did happen?" Rose pressed.

It was several long, silent moments before Jen spoke again. "We had an opportunity to rid the galaxy of the Daleks, and we took it," she finally replied. "It wasn't a perfect plan or idea, but it was the best we had."

"The plan was his," she went on. "There were risks, but we all knew those risks. The most likely outcome would be that the Daleks would be eradicated – at the cost of the Doctor alone. But the plan backfired." A small, sad smile touched her lips. "Instead of everyone but him being spared, everyone but him was killed. Well, nearly everyone," she added. "Our entire planet and all of our people were killed, and by some miraculous twist of fate he and I were spared."

She finally tore her gaze away from her sleeping father and looked at Rose. "Imagine knowing that the plan that took your entire people was your plan, and somehow you survived," she pointed out. "That's an enormous amount of survivor's guilt, I'd imagine."

"He blames himself," Rose whispered, gently running the back of her hand along his cheek. She looked sharply up at Jen. "But you don't." It was more of an observation than a question.

"No," Jen replied instantly, shaking her head. "Millions of people were killed that day, but if we hadn't done what we had to do, then billions more would have been. Sometimes you have to sacrifice the good of the few to protect the good of the many. No one understands that better than a Time Lady."

"You should tell him that," Rose said. "He's never come out and said but… I think he'll need to hear that."

Jen studied her for a moment, and then nodded slowly. "I'll remember that," she replied, softly.

"Where's Jack?" Rose suddenly asked after a moment, only just noticing the Captains absence.

"He's 'investigating,'" Jen replied, grinning into her tea.

"Investigating?" Rose asked suspiciously, raising an eyebrow.

"Actually, he is working and on something serious. I shouldn't make fun," Jen replied. "He wasn't satisfied just having rescued the Doctor. He wants to know why he was abducted in the first place."

"Pretty reasonable, I'd say," Rose said. "I've been kinda wondering that myself."

"Well, Jack is out poking around as only Jack can do," Jen said. "He said that he's not coming back until he has some reasonable answers." She paused and glanced at the clock. "Why don't you go get some rest?" she suggested. "I'll wake you if he comes to."

Rose hesitated for a moment, reluctant to leave his side. Finally she relented when she realized just how tired she really was. "Alright," she replied, reluctantly. "Just promise to wake me the minute he opens his eyes."

"I promise," Jen assured her. "Now get some sleep."

Hours later, Jen sat in the still, silence of the Tardis gazing thoughtfully at the ceiling. Her mind wandered carelessly from subject to subject in her own version of resting, while one ear was tuned acutely to the bed beside her, searching for the slightest noise.

And it was a slight noise that first drew her attention. A small, muffled groan. She shifted her gaze toward the bed and found a pair of large, dark eyes gazing inquisitively back at her. She smiled, set her mug of tea on the floor next to her chair, and moved to the edge of the bed.

The Doctor continued to stare at her, his bleary mind struggling through the drug-induced cloud over it to make sense of his situation. Slowly, he pushed himself into a sitting position. Waves of pain that sliced through his shoulder and ribs instantly told him that he was not dreaming, and was, in fact, wide awake.

Which meant that the woman sitting next to him was not a delirious apparition.

Fighting off the pain, he sat very still for a moment, his eyes closed and his arm cradled against him. Finally, he caught his breath again and looked up at the green-eyed woman who was still patiently watching him from the edge of his bed. For the second time in two days, he reached over and lifted up the pendant around her neck. "Where did you get this?" he asked, his tone almost accusatory.

Jen continued to smile, though she had to swallow hard against the teary lump that was beginning to well up in her throat. She could remember very well the moment she had received that pendant. "My father gave it to me," she replied, softly. "The day I finished at the academy on Gallifrey." She bit her lower lip for a moment. "He was amazed that I finished with a triple fist, and remarked that I'd done much better than he had." She grinned. "I told him that's because I spent more time learning from my teachers than arguing with them."

Nothing she could have said would have stunned him more. He, too, remembered that moment in time as if it had happened only yesterday. "You're dead," he whispered in disbelief, unsure if he should let his heart trust what his eyes and ears were telling him.

A soft, teary chuckle escaped Jen's lips. "I hate to be the one to break this to you," she replied, a gentle teasing tone in her voice. "But you don't look so great yourself right now."

"Oh, my Jenaria," he whispered softly. In an instant, Jen crossed the space between them and flung her arms around his neck. While he had only one good arm to offer, the Doctor wasted no time in sliding that around his youngest child, pulling Jen as tight against him as his bruised ribs would allow. Tears of his own threatened to spill down his cheeks as he held her. "How?" he finally murmured into her shoulder.

"I'm not sure," she replied. "I'm truly not sure how I survived. But I did, and I'm here now, and that's all that matters." She pulled back, her cheeks wet with tears of pure and utter delight. "Oh, I've missed you."

"I hardly know what to say," the Doctor replied, grinning broadly but fighting for control. "I truly never thought I'd see you again."

Out of the corner of her eye, Jen could see a shadow hovering in the doorway. Her smile broadened. "Save some strength," she said, grinning. "I've brought you a present." She turned her attention toward the door, nodding encouragement to the individual hesitantly lurking in the shadows.

Curious, the Doctor turned to see what Jen was speaking of. The sight that greeted him sent all air rushing from his lungs, and he could swear that both hearts stopped. His mouth suddenly went dry and he struggled to catch his breath as he set his eyes on the most wonderful sight in the galaxy. A beautiful face that he never thought he'd see again. "Rose?" he whispered, afraid to even dare to hope.

Author's Note: Yeah, I know I kinda skimmed over the details of the Time War. But there were a couple of reasons for it, actually. For starters, it would have been a very painful experience for Jen, too, and she wouldn't want to talk about it any more than the Doctor likes to. And, secondly, so little is really known about the details of the Time War, and I'm a little reluctant to completely trample all over canonicity and such. So, yeah, that's as much as I'm willing to dig into it.