As Sammie drifted into the darkness everything sounded further and further away; she could hear Owen shouting about mass loss of blood, she could hear Gwen's scream, she could hear Toshiko babbling out a string of technical words and then she heard Ianto repeating her name and then she could hear Jack begging her to stay with him. But then it all went silent and she could hear her companions no more.

…………………………………………

The team fought long and hard to release Sammie from the shadow but it was so strong and with Sammie thrashing about it made it harder for the team to fight. All of a sudden Sammie stopped thrashing about and laid very still, the shadow fled off into the forest and everyone ran forward to the limp form.

"What happened, why did it go?" Gwen screamed

"It finished feeding" Toshiko said and then did a scan of the surrounding area as Owen crouched down beside Sammie who had lost all colour from her face, he took off his jacket and pressed it against the bleeding wound "Jack she's lost a lot of blood"

Jack crouched down beside Sammie and clasped her small hand in his begging her to stay with him "Come on Sammie stay with me"

Suddenly Owen jumped up and grabbed his medical kit closer and then started compressions on the small form that lay in front of him

"What happened?" Jack shouted

"She stopped breathing" Owen said pushing his hands down

"Sammie come on" Ianto said and everyone was shocked at this sudden outburst

Owen continued the resuscitation but there was no response, after a while he looked up at Jack and softly said "It's been thirty minutes and there's still no response"

"You have to keep trying" Jack yelled

"Jack she's gone" Owen said trying to fight away the tears

"No"

"Jack she's not breathing and her heart stopped beating, she's cold"

"No she can't be"

"I'm sorry"

"The reason I let her come with us was to make her feel part of the team, I saw the conversation she had on her laptop and I thought that if we included her then she might…" but Jack couldn't continue

"Jack it's not your fault" Owen said softly

"Then whose fault is it?" Jack shouted but Owen stayed quiet

……………………………………

Back at the hub Owen laid out Sammie's body before he put it into what Torchwood called "Storage", she looked so small and weak before him

"I'm sorry" he whispered "You're not wrong"

Jack came in and stood beside him and when Owen turned to face him he could see that he had been crying "She looks so small" Jack whispered and Owen touched him gently on the shoulder and left the room to give Jack some time alone

"Oh Sammie I am so sorry for everything, I should have been there for you, to hold you in my arms but now it's too late" Jack sobbed as he leant down and kissed her gently on her forehead like one would do to a sleeping baby.

Jack sat with her for a long time, holding her cold hand and brushing her long brown her off her face, he looked down at the small hand he was holding and closed his eyes, suddenly he felt something move in his hand and he opened them and saw that only very slightly Sammie's hand had just gently gripped his. Jack stood up and yelled for Owen who ran in towards him

"She just gripped my hand" Jack shouted

"Jack she's gone" Owen said softly

"She did" Jack said determinedly

"Jack…" Owen began but as he looked over at her, he saw her chest rise and fall very slightly "…Oh my god" he gasped and ran to get his medical kit. As he hooked her up to a heart monitor surely enough a heartbeat was recorded on it, a weak one but all the same a heartbeat, which was getting stronger by every hour that passed

"How is this happening?" said Gwen who had joined them after she had heard all the yelling

"She must have had a tiny amount of energy left in her from the woods but it was enough to slowly start her heart" Jack said almost crying with joy

"She's a real fighter" Owen said sighing in relief

And enough as her heartbeat got stronger, the colour flew back into her cheeks and after a few more hours a pair of green eyes groggily flicked open and her gaze was met by a fleet of worried faces.

She groaned "Hey" she murmured looking up at everyone and was soon met by a strong hug from Jack who was now crying gently "What happened and why I am about to go into the corpse cupboard?" she said using a term she had first created when she had found the storage facility

"You sort of died when the shadow attacked you but you had enough energy in you to start your heart again"

"Clever me" she murmured

"What's the last thing you remember" said Toshiko gently

"You lot all screaming at me not to go and by the way Owen you really sound like a girl when you scream"

Owen snorted "Glad to see that your sense of humour hasn't been damaged" and Sammie smiled gently

"Don't you ever do that to us again" Jack said looking down at her

"I'm not planning to any time soon don't worry" she smiled as she looked down the bed she was on "Ok now that we've acknowledged that I'm alive can I please get away from the corpses or are you just giving me a really big hint" she laughed softly and as she was taken back to the hub Jack stayed with her gripping her hand as if he never wanted to let go of her.