REVELATIONS

EIGHTEEN

The TARDIS had delivered them to the planet, the place that had been her last destination in the Brave World galaxy.

Jack was the first to recognize it as they left the ship and squinted in the bright radiance of the two suns overhead – the blood red grass, the seared orange sky, the incandescent mountains far off in the distance – there could be no doubt. "Bloody hell," he whispered, "it's Gallifrey."

Instinctively Rose reached for his hand. "How?"

"I don't know; she must've created it... Rose," there was a sound of desperation in his voice, "I'm not sure we should be here. I'm getting a bad feeling – we don't know what she is, what she's become."

"Jack, do we have any other choice?"

"I think we might. We need to go back and look at this again, get my team involved. And there are others we can go to for assistance. I'm afraid, Rose. I'm afraid she might be more of a hindrance than a help. Rose, I'm afraid of her…"

The voice came from behind, startling them, "You don't need to be afraid."

Jack released Rose's hand as the two turned around and faced Wil Beinert.

She looked just as she had when they'd last seen her, except, Jack noticed, her green eyes were also blue and tinged with flecks of gold.

He'd fully intended to step in front of Rose in what would've been a highly heroic yet probably futile attempt to protect her.

But he never had the chance. Rose shrieked, "Wil!" and took off like a shot towards her erstwhile friend. As near as Jack could tell, the two women embraced warmly and Wil's face displayed genuine delight until, he realized with astonishment, she realized that Rose was sobbing.

Wil's gladness changed to a look of concern. At that moment, Jack understood Wil wasn't wondering what was wrong, she already knew. Instead, she was considering what, if anything, she should do about it.

He caught her eyes and held them. He supposed he had no reason to actually speak to her – she likely already knew everything he thought and felt. Still, he had always believed the act of communicating was in itself intrinsically valuable. The simple effort counted for something. There was power in the spoken word, and he would speak and she would listen, or he would die trying.

What he said first actually surprised her.

"You left me."

With those three simple, monosyllabic words Jack Harkness reminded Wil she had misplaced if not lost a small but vital aspect of her humanity. Of course she had left him, and she'd never for a moment doubted her decision to do so, nor regretted it. She had felt it was the right thing to do. The only thing to do.

And yet… she had never considered how it might have made him feel. Looking into his eyes she realized for the first time she had presented the appearance of rejecting him – rejecting a unique man and loyal friend who had pledged his life to her well-being and happiness. She had hurt him although it had not been her intention, nor had she even realized it as a possibility.

Wil broke his gaze, closed her eyes and buried her face in Rose's hair. Was that the path she was on? There was only one other who displayed such selfish behavior – egocentric enough and so self-righteous that he rarely, if ever, included the feelings of others in his decision-making processes. Had she become The Doctor?

She had once called the Time Lord arrogant, conceited, cold, driven, calculated and callous. Words she would never want used to describe her. Of course he was much more than those words, as was she, but she suddenly realized to her dismay that it might be a package deal.

'Absolute power corrupts absolutely.' She'd always thought it such a trite cliché. But, The Doctor had been born to it; she'd been gifted or cursed with it – she still wasn't sure which.

She had hurt Jack and not realized it.

Wil gently released Rose and looked at him, looked deeply into his beautiful blue eyes. "I'm sorry," she said.

"Apology accepted," was the curt response. "We need your help."

"Am I your 'last, best hope' then?" she smiled at him.

"No, you're our 'first, best hope'," he wanly returned her smile. "And while I'm not so sure how you see it, Rose and I feel like we're very pressed for time. Will you help us?"

"Yes."

Visibly relieved, Jack walked up to her, extending his right hand. She accepted it and they shook. Rose beamed.

"Welcome back," he said. "What do you need?"

"First, tell me everything about what happened." She turned to look at the TARDIS. "And then, I guess, we need to figure out what to do about it."