Jack needs to be put on his proper path. There are some universal truths about Jack Harkness and we get to see some here.

-0-

Parting the fold of space and time, she stepped into Satellite Five. Void Walker took a moment to look around, the place having a distinctively eerie feel to her. Part of what caused that was the utter silence of the place. There seemed to be not a single living thing left. Here there were only dead bodies, and scattered piles of dust.

Her own footsteps echoed oddly in her ears as she started to move towards her goal. If she was right, she had landed here right after the TARDIS had dematerialized, leaving Jack stranded here. The problem was that in other universes, someone eventually came to check out the Satellite, and took Jack back to Earth. In this universe, this is where the first break for his path was. No one came to get Jack and he had been stranded here for a very long time. She needed to fix that, even if it meant taking him where he needed to be herself.

Carefully she made her way up to floor 500. Each floor she paused and listened just in case. Her senses told her there was only one other living thing here, but with how much the paths were in disarray, she needed to make sure. It was both a reassurance and saddening to know her senses were quite correct. The only thing she heard was silence, no other heartbeats, or breaths, or any kind of movement.

When she reached the top floor, she looked around until she spotted him. There to the side in the room with all the monitors and cables he sat. His elbows were braced on his knees and his hands were tangled in the hair on the top of his head. He must have not heard her quiet footsteps, for when she spoke, his head shot up, and he stared at her wide eyed.

"I'm sorry they left you behind." For a moment he didn't respond, simply staring at her. Then he carefully got up, moving very slowly but purposefully. "You are real." His voice made it more of a statement to her then a question as he moved closer. "I am quite real."

Before she could say anything more, he became a blur of movement. Crossing over to her quickly he pulled her into a desperate embrace, his mouth covering hers as his body trembled with suppressed emotion. She could feel the rolling emotions, despair, relief, grief, anger, fear, it all resonated within him.

His reaction was a byproduct of the emotions overwhelming him. She only froze for a moment, and then gently kissed him back, lightly placing her arms around him. Ruthlessly she suppressed her own emotions, concentrating instead on offering comfort. She must have been a bit off as to her guess on when she arrived here. It had obviously been a bit longer then she thought. He had been here in this empty station alone, and that must have been a horrible thing to face.

She could feel the moment that he relaxed. A shudder shook his frame and the kiss turned from desperate, to something a bit softer. That amused her, and she gently started to push him away. When the kiss ended, she could see an apology start, but before he could vocalize it she spoke. "Well I must say that has got to be one of the most enthusiastic greetings I have had in a very long time. Then again, it is you Jack Harkness, so I shouldn't be too surprised."

Relaxing further at her gentle teasing he flashed his warm smile. "Well it certainly was my pleasure, and I would be happy to repeat the process as many times as possible." He did however allow her to pull away. "I take it you know me then? Though I am pretty sure I would have remembered if we had met before. You would be rather hard to forget."

The Void Walker smiled and reached for his hand. "Flattery will get you, well somewhere, but not quite what you have in mind at the moment I think. Come Jack, we need to talk. Things are not quite what they seem at the moment, and I need your help."

He accepted her hand letting her lead him over to sit as his mind started to kick into gear. When he first saw her, the sheer relief at not being alone had driven every other thought out of his mind. Now his brain and training kicked into gear and he looked her over. There was a familiar cast to her features that he just couldn't quite place and to her voice as well. She looked mostly human, but it was rather obvious that she was not. She had something almost lupine about her. The slightly pointed ears, the different hands, some oddities about her hair all pointed to the fact she wasn't human. Also most humans didn't have irises that looked like they were made up of flecks of gold.

So, a non-human that suddenly showed up on Satellite Five. How did she get here, why was she here, and how did she know that he was there. She acted like she knew him, but he had never seen her before in his life. At least not that he could remember. This all added up to one intriguing situation. Before meeting Rose and the Doctor he would have been a lot more suspicious. However, his time with them changed him. Instead he was more curious, and more open to the possibilities.

The Doctor and Rose, having that though run through his mind hurt. He had just gotten left behind here, and he didn't know why. Did they think he was dead? Rose never would have left him if she knew he was alive. Jack liked to think the Doctor wouldn't have either. The Doctor had sent Rose away, so, was the Doctor dead?

Before he could further dwell on it, he felt his hand being tugged to sit down. Folding his legs under him he turned to face the woman that had found him here. She studied his face, her own expression calm. "So I'm betting you have a lot of questions. I think I know what most of them might be, and I will try and answer best I can." Jack focused on her intently, ready to hear, ready to hope.

She kept his hand in hers, and her gaze on his face, as she started to explain. "First, for now you can call me Void Walker. What I am is a long story for another day. Today, I want to focus on you, what happened to you, what will happen next, and what choices I can offer you. I can offer you no guarantees; no way to verify what I say is true. So I am going to have to ask you to take a leap of faith here."

Void Walker, okay that name was definitely a new one to Jack. He had never heard of the name, or if it was a race, of that race before. The implications of the name alone were a bit mind boggling. He knew of the void and nothing could survive within it. Her name implied she actually crossed it, on a regular basis. That opened all sorts of possibilities up. He opened his mouth and shut it again. Finally he managed, "Okay, with you so far, go on."

Giving his hand another squeeze of reassurance she continued. "First, the Doctor and Rose Tyler are alive at the moment, but dealing with their own difficulties. Unfortunately, you really are needed here, and they are needed where they are. Changing that is not something I should do."

A short breath of relief escaped his lips on hearing that they were alive. He loved them both, and the fact that they were alive meant everything. Those two were the only family he had in the world. Then he picked up on the rest of what she said. "You said it is something you should not do, that is different than saying you can't do it."

Her smile quirked at him a moment, before it faded. "Quick mind, yes, I could change these things, however the consequences could be fairly catastrophic if I tried. Here is where I am going to have to ask you to trust me. Something has gone very wrong in this universe."

He kept his eyes on hers as she continued. Her voice had gone very serious and the peculiarity to it had gotten more pronounced. "What your Doctor called timelines, and I call life paths, of this universe have been drastically disrupted. I don't know why, and I don't know how to fix it yet. Normally I just try to help things along with little nudges. When I outright have to interfere I try to give people choices. However this time, the consequences of the wrong choices may literally rip the universe apart."

At that her voice went bleak and her eyes focused somewhere far away. Jack had seen that look before. It was one of pain, almost unbearable pain. He had seen something similar in the Doctor's eyes at any references to the Time War. Now wasn't the time for him to ask about it though. So he kept himself quiet and listened.

Refocusing her gaze on his face, she continued. "So what I can do is try to redirect people's life-paths to where they should be, or where they are needed to be. This probably sounds a bit overdramatic." Her she gave a small chuckle. "Unfortunately it is very real. So, I am starting with those that have the possibility to influence the most change. You, Jack Harkness, have managed to have your path landed right in the middle of what is to come. I don't know what caused your path to be disrupted. Someone should be coming here that would take you to the planet below. Something changed that. So I am going to make sure you get there."

"Down there, I'm needed down there?" Jack's voice held his astonishment. He couldn't imagine how being down there himself would affect things to a greater good. It was easy to imagine why being with the Doctor would change things, but not how he could on his own.

The Void Walker took in his expression and nodded as she continued. "Yes, you are. There is much more to what is to come, but some things I should not explain to you. Some things you need to discover and learn on your own. I will be as honest and forthright as I can be. Which is why I am telling you this, your path ahead is not going to be an easy one."

This was not what Jack wanted to hear. What he wanted was to be reunited with the two people he loved. What he wanted was for life to be comfortable. He sure as hell didn't want to put himself through more difficulty with no promise of reward. However, his time with the Doctor and Rose changed him. So regardless of what he wanted, what he said was, "Okay, I'll do it."

Her eyes brightened even as her smile was sad. "Just like that, you'll do it?" Looking away he laughed before looking back at her, his posture loose. "Yeah, why the hell not, someone has to right? It has to be better than hanging around here alone. Besides who would turn down the opportunity to do something important for the whole universe, you only live once right?"

Her response wasn't what he expected. She stilled at his words, looking down with a sigh. "That is for you to find out Jack Harkness. Thank you for being willing to try."

Still holding his hand, she stood up pulling him along with her. "Do I get another kiss out of the deal?" His voice was so hopeful she couldn't help but to laugh, which may have been part of his goal. "Oh Jack, never change. Always stay true to the heart of who you are."

He just grinned looking around as he followed after her. "So, how are we getting out of here anyways, some sort of shuttle?"

The look she shot back at him was amused. "No, no shuttle."

He gave a laugh. "What are we just going to walk there?"

"Pretty much."

"How's that going to work then?"

"Just follow me."

Well I'm always happy to follow a beautiful woman."

She laughed again, and his eyes grew wide as the air around her seemed to ripple. Before he could say anything more, she pulled him through. There was a brief second of utter cold and disorientation. Then he suddenly found himself in the middle of a large building, full of people and chaos.

Eyes wide he looked back and forth, surprised by the fact that no one seemed to notice at all their arrival. Void Walker was back to having a slightly sad expression as she looked around. "I'm sorry that I have to leave you here now."

He whipped his head to look at her in disbelief for a moment, and then he just relaxed. "This is one of those things I need to figure out for myself isn't it." He sighed dropping her hand. "Will I ever see you again?"

In response she lifted her hands cupping them in front of her and then drawing them apart. Glowing multicolored strands of light hung between her hands and she studied them carefully. There was a faint frown on her face and a crease between her eyebrows. "I'd say yes, you definitely are. Things still are not right with your path. It will however be some time for you before I come again."

His next question made her snort a laugh. "How about that kiss then, it would help keep me going." Dropping her hands and dismissing the lights with a smile, she cocked her head and looked at him. "Alright, might as well. Maybe then you'll behave for a little bit. Scratch that, I don't think anything could make you behave for very long."

He smiled and reached to cup her face in both hands. Gently he drew her to him. "You'd be surprised." The kiss was gentle, soft and very sweet. When he let her go they both stood perfectly still for a quiet moment.

"Well, time for me to get to work then and make myself useful." With a sketchy salute he gave her one last look before sauntering off. "I'll see you in hell."

She watched as he blended into the pathways of this time and place. It was right to leave him here, right for the integrity of things as a whole. Yet she couldn't help but to regret what he needed to go through. Life wasn't fair, that she knew very well. Sometimes you just had to endure.

She turned to leave, the air rippling around her. No one noticed. No one saw her, and that was as it should be. They didn't need her here, they needed Jack. Though as she walked away she couldn't help but thinking, he had to be a proper Jack if he snogged her. After all, every other version of him always tried to snog her as well. This was just the first one that managed it.