iAgain?/i Alba thought to herself when she awoke, staring at the ceiling of her own bedroom with a strange taste in her mouth. Her memories were hazy-she remembered the Doctor returning from New London, remembered dinner and dessert…

And then the rest was sort of just...missing. She had a vague impression that she might've gone to bed with him, but the details of that, if it had even happened, were fuzzy to her. It seemed likely, though. When she sat up, the blood rushed to her head and she felt dizzy. She wondered how long she had been out. Carefully swinging her feet to the side of the bed, she grabbed the bedpost for support before getting to her feet. She looked down, and saw that she was wearing a deep navy blue silk chemise. One she certainly didn't remember putting on, either.

How much time was she missing exactly?

"Doctor? John?" she called out, reaching for her bedroom door. She opened it and slipped out into the hall. "Hello?"

"In the kitchen!" came Jack's voice from the other end of the hall.

Even more disoriented than she had been before, she made her way to the kitchen to find Jack sitting at the island, drinking a mug of something hot. She inhaled deeply. Coffee. That seemed like a good idea at the moment. She poured herself some and splashed an unhealthy amount of cream and sugar into it.

"What are you doing here?" Alba asked Jack, taking a seat on the stool next to him.

"I wish I had the faintest fucking idea Rose, but I don't, not really. The Doctor called me almost twenty-four hours ago and asked me to come over and keep an eye on you while he ran an errand. He wouldn't tell me where he was going, or why, or for how long. When I protested, he told me your safety depended on me doing this for him, so I complied. But I haven't been able to reach him, and I haven't heard thing one since he left," he said wearily, stirring his coffee. He was staring down into the black abyss of the beverage, refusing to look at her.

"Uh…" was all she could manage in response to that. A sick feeling was starting to develop in the pit of her stomach. Jack was supposed to be the optimistic one, the one who stayed positive.. If he was sounding despondent, how was ishe/i supposed to feel?

"Yeah, I second that motion," he said glumly, taking a sip of his coffee.

"You want an omelette or something?" she offered helpfully. When in doubt, cook, that was her policy. She offered more because she knew the repetitions of preparing ingredients would help soothe her nerves more than anything.

"Yeah, I suppose. I mean...you've tasted my cooking. Better you make the omelettes than me anyday," he said with a slight shrug of his shoulder. She didn't wait for a second invitation before she started heating butter in a pan and gathering ingredients. She filled a large bowl with steaming hot tap water and gently placed the eggs into it.

"Where do you think he's gone?" she asked, dicing easily through her tomato with the Doctor's expensive chef's knife, the same she had tucked under her pillow for safety from him at one point. Now, supposedly, he was out protecting her. But where? And from what or whom?

"I couldn't tell you," he said, although even without looking at him she thought he might be lying. There was something different in his tone of voice, maybe almost a little like...guilt?

She chopped the heads off the tops of a handful of asparagus and dumped them into the butter with the tomato to saute. The vegetables made a satisfying hissing noise when they hit the hot pan, and she gave them a gentle poke with the spatula to distribute them evenly before turning back to fix her gaze on Jack. "Well, you at least must have some idea of who he might have it out with, yeah?"

"How much do you remember about the last time you were with him, Rosie?" he asked, ignoring her question.

"I asked you first," she said, turning back to the stove so she could crumble some feta in with the vegetables. She gave the pan a good shake, carefully retrieved the eggs from their water bath, cracked them open into a small bowl and began to beat them gently with a fork. Jack was watching her intently. "What?"

"Nothing. No wonder I can never make an omelette right-there are not nearly as many steps involved when I make them. And I'm lucky if I can do it without overcooking the eggs," he said, watching her scoop the sauteed vegetables onto a plate and pour the beaten eggs into the pan.

"Hmm well, I'd be happy to teach you how to make an omelette. You could make Alonso breakfast in bed. Bet he'd like that. But I believe before the culinary interruption we were talking about the Doctor and his maybe whereabouts?" she pressed gently.

"If I knew, I already would've gone to look for him. He was acting...well, I don't know. Like himself, I suppose, but something was off. It's hard to tell anymore when he's just being quirky, and when he's having a wild moodswing. He was all wound up about something, though," Jack said. "You're sure you don't remember anything about last night, anything at all that might shed some light on all this?"

Alba arranged the vegetables in the middle of the omelette, and used her spatula to carefully fold the edges over themselves. She flipped. it onto a plate and passed it over to Jack. She didn't feel hungry, and she also didn't feel too much calmer. Jack was being deliberately obtuse, while still trying to elicit answers from her.

"I remember dinner and dessert, and not much else. I think I might've gone to bed with him, but I honestly don't remember anything else. When I woke up, I kind of felt like I'd been drugged. You wouldn't happen to have any insight into that?"

"I don't know, but this is...oh my God. The best omelette I've ever had," he mumbled through a mouthful.

"Yeah, I know," she said with a grin, before remembering that she was trying to be stern and gather information. "But still...I didn't feel right when I woke up. Something happened, but I don't know what. He really didn't say anything to you?"

Jack conveniently became absorbed with cutting his omelette into bite-sized pieces

"Jack...I'm missing time. I don't know how I got to my own bed, or into these clothes. I thought I went to bed with the Doctor, but now I'm not so sure. You wouldn't know anything at all that might help shed some light on that?" she asked him sincerely, hoping that guilt she'd thought she'd heard earlier in his voice might persuade him to let her in on whatever secret he was holding.

No such luck, though.

"When I said he didn't really tell me anything, I meant it," he said, but he was staring down at his plate now, pushing an errant piece of tomato around with his fork.

"Why are you lying to me, Jack? I'm so confused. You could probably answer it all for me, and you won't. Why?" she whispered, feeling defeated.

"Secrets keep us safe sometimes, Rosie," he said, sounding like an echo. The somber silence of the moment was broken by the sound of a loud crash from another room in the house. Jack bolted to his feet immediately, and looked at Alba. "You stay here."

"Like hell I will. I'm coming with you," she insisted, getting to her feet.

"No!" he warned vehemently. Please...just stay here. Just in case," he said.

"So you're going to leave me alone? How is that any safer?" she asked incredulously.

"Fine. But stick by my side and don't get out of my sight," he warned, taking her by the elbow. At the threshold of the kitchen he peeked cautiously into the hallway, and seeing it clear he lead them out. They heard another loud clatter, and this time they were able to identify that it was coming from the forbidden office at the top of the stairs. The two of them exchanged an uneasy glance, and crept forward. They heard muted swearing, but the voice was unmistakable.

"Jack? Where are you?" the Doctor roared from behind the door.

"I'm right here in the hallway, Doc!" Jack answered back as they stopped at the bottom of the stairs.

"Are you alone?" came the hoarse response.

"No. Rose is with me," Jack replied.

There was more muted swearing and some clattering before there was another semi-coherent response. "Lock her in her room. Now. And then meet me back here," the Doctor rasped.

"But-," Alba started to protest, but she didn't get a chance because Jack was leading her back down the hallway to her own door. She tried to fight him, pushing back against him when he tried to guide her in the door. He finally just put her in a bear hug and carried her into the room, depositing her and backing out into the hall before she could reach the door. She grabbed the knob and pulled against it, but Jack was stronger and she heard the lock click into place.

"I'm sorry, kid," he whispered from the other side of the door.

Sinking down onto her bed, she realized she was the most frightened she had been since she'd woken up in the slave exchange. She strained her ears, hoping to pick up a hint of anything, but there was nothing besides the ever present and maddening sound of her bedside table's ticking clock.

"So let me make sure I've got this straight...you kidnapped her mother?" Jack asked, staring at the hooded woman lying prone on the floor.

"Yes. I mean no! No! I certainly idid not/i kidnap Andrea Prentice. It was all...kind of an accident…" he muttered.

"How, pray tell, do you iaccidentally/i bring a woman through the Vortex with you?" Jack asked, his voice rising in disbelief. "And of all the places to bring her...here? What are you trying to pull, man? You still won't tell me why Rose has no recollection of the night she spent with you, either. Doc... you know I love-like a brother, of course, you're my best friend man and I'd do anything for you. But it's really hard for me to work for you doing certain things if you aren't going to be honest with me. Why did you bring Andrea Prentice here?"

"Someone tried to blow up Henrik's. Well, I say try, but they succeeded most of the way. The building will have to be demolished and rebuilt, at any rate. Andrea Prentice works there. I promised Rose I'd keep her mother safe...so I did."

"How'd you know that someone was going to blow up Henrik's?' Jack asked.

The Doctor looked up at the ceiling. "She wasn't in her apartment when I went to check on her, so I went to walk to Henrik's. And then there was this newspaper on the ground…"

Jack pursed his lips. "You know that's very dangerously close to breaking your own rules. What if she was meant to die in that explosion? What if you changed the course of history by saving her?"

"So when I was kidnapping nineteen year old girls from the sex slave exchange that wasn't a rule breaker sort of situation, but saving a woman from a bombing is? This wouldn't be the worst thing I've done with the vortex manipulator Jack, you know that. And besides...I made it. I'll do what I like with it," the Doctor replied, his voice gone dangerously soft. "Have you forgotten who works for whom?"

"No," Jack replied sourly.

"I didn't think so," the Doctor replied, shifting his gaze back to the woman restrained on the floor. Thankfully, she was unconscious. When she awoke, she would have no memory of being rescued, only of the bombing. He'd seen to that. Absolutely no one needed to know about his involvement, and in fact, it was integral that no one did, save Jack.

"So what are you going to do with her?" Jack asked.

"Until I know who tried to bomb Henrik's and why? Nothing," the Doctor replied. "Keep her restrained and sedated."

"Well, she can't stay here," Jack said pointedly.

"Yeah, I know," the Doctor replied, looking up at Jack. "Say...you and Alonso have a three-bedroom, don't you?"

"Oh no. Absolutely not. I am not sheltering a woman you kidnapped ifrom a different time/i. Maybe you have no problem lying to Rose's face, but I hate doing it and on top of that I'm pretty sure she can tell when I'm lying. There's no way I can hide her mom in my apartment and still look her in the face to take her to dress fittings or the ceremony coachings or anything else. Nope. No way."

"Alright fine. So hide Andrea Prentice in your apartment, and that'll be your job for the next few days until I figure out what to do. I'll take Rose to her appointments," the Doctor said, throwing his hands up in frustration.

"Really? You're going to take Rose to her dress fitting? And dance lesson? And ceremony tutoring? Or did you forget all the things she has to do before this wedding?" Jack asked.

"If I have to, yes. Or I'll find someone else to do it for me. Incomprehensible as this may seem to you Jack...I do have other friends. Not many, but a few. And I also have money. Money talks. If you won't help me, I can find someone who will."

"You're such a douche. Like I don't bend over backwards for you at every opportunity. You're really going to guilt me over not wanting to do this one little thing, and you won't even tell me why?" Jacked asked in disbelief, tilting his eyebrows up for effect.

"First off, it's not a little thing, not by any stretch of the imagination. Secondly...I'm going to ignore the fact that you compared me to a feminine hygiene product because I'm asking you to do me a favor, and I know that. I will tell you why. I don't want to send Andrea Prentice back to her own time until I know she'll be safe there," the Doctor said.

"You don't think it was a coincidence that she was at Henrik's during the bombing, do you?" Jack asked.

"Maybe not," the Doctor replied softly. "Either way, Andrea Prentice is my bargaining chip. If she dies, I have nothing to keep Rose here. And I'll have broken a promise. So she has to be kept safe. Just for now, just until I can find a safe place to put her. And you're just the man to do it for me."

"And Rose? Why doesn't she remember the other night, Doctor?"

"She was asking too many questions, questions about Romana. I know she didn't realize she'd used the purple truth sage by mistake, but I couldn't risk her knowing these things about me. I just slipped a little milk of amnesia into her tea, that's all. Just enough to make her forget that morning."

"Yeah? Well, I think you went a little heavy because she said she didn't remember anything past dessert, not really," Jack said, sounding incensed on Rose's behalf.

"That's a shame," the Doctor said wistfully, and Jack heard true regret in his voice.

"So I guess I'll have to keep her sedated, huh?" Jack sighed with resignation.

"Probably, unless you want to try dealing with the possibility of her waking up. She's Rose's mum, after all...she's probably pretty scrappy."

"What am I even getting myself into?"Jack muttered in response.