There were Toon's everywhere before Jack could even reach the vat, they were pulling Jack away, and getting Donna down and into the Doctor's arms. Lord Kind was there, and he looked over the situation.
"I'm sorry," he said, and the Doctor thought he might actually be, "She is gone."
Jack was sitting down by the vat, refusing to move anywhere, despite the urging of the Toons around him. He wouldn't be moved.
"You may take the rest of the day off to grieve, tomorrow the games with resume," Lord Kind told them, "Take them to a couple of rooms."
The Toons nodded, and the Doctor walked over to Jack, and squatted down, "Come on, Jack. We can't stay here."
Jack flinched at the Doctor's touch and when he looked up there were tears running down his face, "I'm sorry, I didn't."
"Hush," the Doctor told him gently. "I know you didn't do it on purpose."
There was a rage running through the Doctor that he couldn't express but for all his threats he didn't blame Jack. He blamed the Toon's, he blamed himself, but not Jack.
"I'm not going to leave her," Jack told him, trying to move closer to the vat, but the Doctor stopped him.
"She isn't there," the Doctor took his hand, and he held it tight. "Come with us Jack, now."
Jack's blue eyes were lost, and the Doctor knew that right now he had to be strong for him. He would figure this whole situation out, but he suspected that Grace wasn't really gone, at least not in the forever sense. He just didn't want to let on that he knew, didn't want the Toon's to have a clue that he wasn't buying it.
"Now," the Doctor repeated, no longer giving him the option, he pulled him to his feet, and walked him and Donna out of the room.
Donna wasn't crying, but she was watching the Doctor carefully, and the Doctor wondered if she could feel it as well. A strange feeling running through his body, like warmth, like he was being offered a comfort, and he thought it might be coming from Grace herself.
They were getting closer to the time she would have to spend on Fair, and her psychic abilities were far more than he would have thought was possible if he hadn't seen the finished product first.
DW
Grace awoke, and she wasn't tied to anything which she thought might be a good start, but she was lying in a stranger's bed, which might not be so good. Her mind quickly supplied the details of how she got there, and she remembered falling into the vat, which had felt a little like thin gelatin, and she was sucked into a hold into the bottom.
She hadn't been able to breathe but she didn't think that it had been longer than her respiratory bypass could have gone, so it was probably something in the gel that had caused her to lose consciousness. She wasn't sure how long she had been out, but she had tried very hard to let her parents know that she was okay. Jack was harder to get the message to, resistant to the end, he was.
"You are awake, my love," she heard a voice enter the room, and she realized right away who it was.
She sat up, her head spinning a little, and she fought the nausea that rose in response.
"That'll be the gel, it'll pass," he was smiling at her, and she thought about puking on his shoes.
"Where am I?" She asked him.
"You are safe, in my own personal ship," he moved closer to him. "Isn't this wonderful, we can be together now."
"I don't think you know what the definition of wonderful is," she muttered under her breath. "What about my family, are they okay?"
"They are safe, they think that you are dead," he told her, reaching out to touch her cheek. She allowed it, only because she suspected that he wouldn't be so willing to talk if she fought back. "The man, the one who claims you thinks that you are gone. Now you are mine."
"Goody," she told him.
"You don't want to be mine?"
Grace studied him, wondering if he could possibly be that dense. She thought that was perfectly clear by her previous actions, maybe coloring his shirt with vomit was needed after all.
He looked sad, and she almost felt bad for him, but that didn't mean that she was going to just run into his blue little arms. She loved Jack, and she was going to marry him some day, at least if she had her way.
"I can order them killed, and the planet destroyed and you will still be mine, or you can cooperate and we can make a deal."
"What kind of deal," she asked softly.
"I let your family go, release the planet and you agree to marry me and be my Lady. We will have children and love each other."
"You can't make me love me," she told him.
"You will learn to," she was told. "I would be good to you, I promise."
Time lines twirled around in her mind, she could see the paths so clearly and she knew what could come from each. And she also knew that there was a chance he would do as he said and kill her family and take the planet.
Gold and green and red and silver, and the possibilities had never seemed so staggering and she finally nodded. Time was in flux and she couldn't take the chance that he would harm anyone. She would think of something, some way to get herself out of this, but for the time being, playing along seemed best.
"Very good," he smiled at her, "We will be wed shortly, I will let your family go now, the planet after we consummate the marriage."
She wondered if 'I have a headache' would work on him, because she didn't plan to be consummating anything if it could be helped. "Great."
She was fairly sure it came out in a tone that suggested it wasn't but his smile didn't fade, and he went about getting her family free. That was what mattered, she was starting to look around the room when two women Toon's entered, the first she had seen of the females since they had arrived.
"My Lady," one spoke with reverence, and Grace shook her head.
"I'm Grace," she told them.
"Lady Grace," the other said, "We must prepare you for the wedding."
"Listen, about that," Grace said, hoping that maybe she could get some help from them.
"Lady Grace," the first one whispered, "It would be wise to honor your deal, he isn't one to hesitate, and he doesn't make deals. You should consider yourself lucky."
Grace sighed, clearly on her own in this escape, "All right, wedding it is."