"On sleepless roads the sleepless go." -Hear You Me, Jimmy Eat World

disc: don't own it

warnings: slash, non graphic non con


Rose stared at him, sure she'd misheard.

"Jack?" she asked. "Our Jack? But that's impossible, he was…oh my God, he was the survivor, wasn't he?"

The Doctor nodded distractedly, turning levers and pressing buttons, pulling out the TARDIS's screen and staring at it intently.

"But how…" Rose was having trouble forming sentences. "How do you…"

"I found his doctor. He was barely alive, but managed to tell me Jack was there." He looked up then, and she could see a darkness in his eyes. "The space pirates have taken him."

Behind her, Evey gasped.

"But they'll murder him!"

"Exactly," the Doctor replied grimly. "Which is why we need to find him." He looked at Evey. "And I'll need your help."

He leant back over the screen, and Rose peered over his shoulder, following his finger as he pointed out lines on a sketchy map.

"The space pirates were using heavy weaponry in that hospital, heavy enough to break security glass, which is saying something. Weapons like that give off energy on a data scanner, and I managed to pick up their signal and trace it back to their base." He shot Rose a grin. "The Whitehouse, just like you said."

Rose found herself grinning back. There was a light in the Doctor's eyes, battling the darkness.

"Now all we need to do is infiltrate it, and steal Jack back. Piece of cake."

"And you need me to show you the way," Evey said.

The Doctor's smile widened.

"Exactly. Out of the three of us, you're the only one who has any sort of knowledge about this place. I mean, you must have seen it on telly or something."

To Rose's surprise, Evey looked grim.

"I've seen more than that. I've been there."

Rose frowned.

"Like, on a visitor's tour?"

"Um, not exactly. There's something I haven't told you about myself."

The Doctor raised an eyebrow, waiting.

"I'm, well, I'm the Prime Minister's daughter."

Rose stared.

"You're…what?"

Evey bit her lip.

"Yeah. My full name's Evelyn Scarlett Worthing. My father is…was Prime Minister Jack Worthing."

"Like in the play?" Rose asked, before she could stop herself.

The Doctor shot her a look, but Evey nodded.

"Exactly." She smiled ruefully. "He hated that."

She looked suddenly so sad, and Rose placed a comforting hand on her arm.

Evey looked straight at Rose, then seemed to strengthen, became almost taller.

"I can get you in," she said. "I know the layout."

The Doctor nodded.

"Good. You and I will go in and get Jack. Rose, you stay here."

Rose opened her mouth to protest, fully prepared to tell the Doctor exactly what she though of this plan, but he put up a hand, stopping her.

"Please Rose, don't argue with me on this. These space pirates are ruthless. I don't want to save Jack only to lose you."

"I can help," she insisted.

"No. You stay here."

He turned away from her before she could reply, and she felt the harsh sting of his rejection. She knew, rationally, that he was doing it to protect her, but it still felt like a dismissal.

"Right. Evey, you still got that blaster?"

Evey nodded, gripping the blaster tightly. Her face was pale, but her eyes were like steel. Determined.

"And I've got my trusty sonic screwdriver." He tossed it up in the air, then caught it and slipped it into his coat pocket.

"Right then."

He turned towards her, and she tried not to let the resentment show on her face.

"I'm trying to keep you safe," he said.

She nodded.

"I know. I just…"

"Jack will need you when we bring him back. He'll…." He hesitated for a moment. "He'll probably be in a bad way."

Rose nodded, understanding what he was saying.

"I'll be ready."

He squeezed her hand quickly.

"See you soon."

Then he opened the door, gestured Evey through, and was gone.

"See you soon," she echoed to the empty room.

The Doctor slipped through the door Evey had shown him, deep in the side of the white building, hidden from view by a cloud of purple wisteria.

"It's barely ever used," Evey had explained to him. "The pirates probably won't have had time to find it yet."

They moved silently down a maze of corridors, Evey leading the way, although the Doctor had no idea where they were going, and he wasn't entirely sure Evey knew either.

"Where are we going?" he hissed.

Evey looked at him, her eyes slightly wide.

"Don't you know?"

"How would I know?"

"I don't know! Don't you have a scanner that detects body heat or something?"

The Doctor rolled his eyes. "I'm not a magician. Besides, that would be no good here, with all the space pirates wondering around."

"Alright! Don't have a go at me!"

"I'm not. Keep your voice down."

They pressed back into the alcove they had stopped in as gruff voices echoed down the corridor.

"Shhh," the Doctor murmured, and he felt Evey tense against him.

"Human scum. They'll be wiped out soon. Perhaps we should think about taking more prisoners. That last lot were extremely satisfying."

"And there's still one left," an answering voice growled.

"You know how possessive Grimhout gets about his captures. I wouldn't dare go near him."

"Grimhout up there with him now?"

"Probably. He'll wear him out soon. Wait and see."

There was a deep guffawing, and the laughter faded away, down another corridor.

The Doctor glanced at Evey.

"Up," he said.

She nodded.

"Follow me."

They made their way up a back stairway in stops and starts, having a few too many close calls for the Doctor's liking, and as they reached the top floor, he pushed the heavy door open, onto a sparse hallway, not at all grand like the rest of the building. There was a single door at the end of the corridor, and the Doctor could see the lift doors in between.

He was about to step out, when the door opened suddenly, and he slipped back into the dark stairway, hoping he hadn't been seen.

"Now don't you go dying on me. I haven't quite finished with you yet," a dark voice taunted, then there were the sounds of heavy footfalls, and the ping of the lift doors.

The Doctor waited several long seconds, then shoved the door open, stepping out into the hallway, Evey behind him.

"Keep a look out," he told her, then he strode forward and opened the door.

The stench of blood and sweat hit him like a wave. There were several people lying in the small, square room, still and unmoving. The Doctor's eyes immediately fell on Jack, who was lying blindfolded and naked on the floor, his skin spattered with red drops of blood.

The Doctor dropped to his knees beside him, reaching out for him. At his touch, Jack flinched and tried to shift away.

"No more," he murmured, and his voice sounded so broken, so unlike the Jack he remembered. "No more."

"Jack, it's okay. I'm here to help you."

Jack froze at his words, and the Doctor quickly reached for the blindfold, tugging it off his head.

Jack blinked in the dim room, his eyes flitting around, scared, before resting on the Doctor's face.

"Who are you?" he asked.

The Doctor tried not to let his reaction show.

It was stupid, but up until this point he had been so fixated on finding Jack, it hadn't occurred to him that Jack wouldn't recognise him. He suddenly wished he had brought Rose along after all.

"I'm a friend of Rose," he said. "I've come to get you out of here."

"Rose?" Jack asked, hope flaring in his eyes.

The Doctor nodded.

"That's right. Come on."

He made to slip his arm around Jack's shoulders, but Jack shrank from the touch.

"If you're a friend of Rose, then where is she?" he demanded, his voice rough and cracked.

"She's waiting for us, in the TARDIS," he replied, then immediately wished he'd kept quiet.

Jack went still.

"The TARDIS?" he repeated. "Then, the Doctor…?"

The Doctor forced himself to nod.

"He's there too, but I don't have time to explain it now. We have to get you out of here, before they come back."

The words had the desired effect, and Jack tried to struggle to his feet, this time letting the Doctor help, although he stiffened noticeably at the touch.

The Doctor shrugged off his long brown coat, carefully wrapping it around Jack's bruised body.

"Here, wear this for now."

Jack nodded, accepting the coat gratefully, and the Doctor noticed he was shaking. The coat was nearly too small for him, and the Doctor realised with a start that he was only slightly taller than Jack now. He wasn't used to that.

Jack looked sorrowfully at the others, all lying still on the floor.

"They're dead," he said, and the Doctor nodded. He'd thought as much.

Jack leant against him as they struggled back through the door, and Evey looked up, her blue eyes large as she took in Jack, swaying on his feet.

"We'll never get out the way we came in," she said.

The Doctor nodded in agreement.

"Then there's only one way we can. All guns blazing."

He looked at Jack carefully.

"Do you think you can make it?"

Jack nodded, taking his own weight.

"I can make it."

The Doctor smiled, recognising the Jack he'd known, the Jack who was determined and ballsy and reckless. He reached into his inner jacket pocket and handed Jack a small blaster Evey had given him from her stash.

"You might need this."

Jack accepted it with a nod.

He glanced at Evey.

"And you can get us out?"

She nodded confidently.

"Then let's go for it."

They went down in the lift this time, and as they reached the ground floor, the Doctor met first Evey's, then Jack's, eyes.

"Ready?"

"Ready."

As the lift doors pinged open, the Doctor didn't hesitate before activating the sonic screwdriver, which emitted a bright blue light, blinding the space pirates that would surely be waiting for them.

"Go!" he yelled to Evey, and he heard the sound of Jack's blaster going off. Then they were running, running and shooting and dodging.

He saw Jack falter, and reached for him, pulling him tight against his own body.

"We're almost there!" he yelled, but didn't know if Jack could hear him over the sound of the fight.

Then they were bursting through the main doors, the sounds of blasters whizzing past their ears, and the TARDIS was in sight.

"Run!" the Doctor shouted. "RUN!"

And they ran.


The TARDIS door burst open and Rose nearly jumped out of her skin as Evey tumbled through, closely followed by the Doctor and…Jack.

He was clinging to the Doctor, dressed absurdly in the Doctor's brown coat, and for a horrific moment Rose thought he was dead, but then his eyes fluttered, as the Doctor laid him down on the TARDIS floor.

"You're safe now," the Doctor murmured softly, then straightened abruptly, striding over to the console.

"Rose," he barked. "We need to get out of here."

Rose hesitated, wanting to go to Jack.

"Rose!" he snapped. "There isn't time!"

Rose hurried over to the console.

"Hold this lever," the Doctor ordered, pushing her towards a large blue lever. He spun a couple of dials impatiently, and the TARDIS rocked suddenly with a huge blow.

"They're outside," he said between gritted teeth.

"But they can't get in," Rose said confidently. "Doctor?"

"Remember when I said they had really powerful machinery?"

Rose nodded nervously.

"It's probably best that we go sooner, rather than later."

"Tell me what to do!"

"Just keep holding that lever, and pull it when I say."

She watched him throw switches, but nothing happened.

"They're trying to lock us down!" he said. "I'll have to override it, but that might take a few minutes."

"We don't have a few minutes," Evey said, her eyes on the TARDIS door, hand tightening on her blaster.

"Come on!" the Doctor hissed, his hands flying over the console. "Come ON!"

The TARDIS suddenly vibrated underneath Rose's feet, and the Doctor let out a victorious shout.

"Got it! Rose, now!"

She pulled the lever back sharply, and the familiar whir of the engines pulsated through the room, the TARDIS shuddering as it moved.

"Yes!" the Doctor yelled, throwing his arms around Rose and swinging her in a circle.

Rose laughed.

"We did it."

"We most certainly did."

Her eyes fell on Jack, pale and unmoving on the engine room floor, and she immediately disentangled herself from the Doctor's embrace and went to him, kneeling by his side.

His eyes fluttered as she shifted his head onto her lap.

"Hello Rosey," he rasped.

"Hi," she murmured, unable to stop the tears that dripped down her cheeks.

Jack tried to shift, gasping from the pain, and Rose took his hand in hers.

"Don't," she whispered. "We've got you now, it's okay. I promise it's going to be okay."

Jack's eyes focussed hazily on her face, then flickered to the Doctor, standing behind her.

"You're the Doctor," he said softly.

The Doctor nodded silently.

His eyes moved back to Rose.

"I don't understand…"

"I'll explain everything," she promised. "Just let me get you to your room, okay?"

"Is he the Doctor?" he asked.

"Yes Jack," Rose said softly. "He is."

She saw his eyes move back to the Doctor again, saw the vague, confused look turn hard.

"You left me," he said.

For a long moment no one spoke.

"We need to get you to bed," the Doctor said finally, moving forward to help her pull Jack to his feet.

"Don't touch me!" Jack cried, pushing the Doctor away with what little strength he had, falling against Rose.

Rose staggered to support him, shock racing through her at his reaction.

The Doctor stepped back, his face impassive, but Rose could tell Jack's actions had hurt him.

"I'll help," Evey said quickly, coming to Jack's other side and carefully placing has arm over her shoulder.

Rose was relieved when Jack let her, and together they made their way towards the TARDIS corridors.

Rose looked back at the Doctor, who was standing by the console, his eyes on the spot Jack had been laying. He looked…blank.

She bit her lip and focused on getting Jack to his room. The Doctor would have to wait.

She ran Jack a hot bath, and he let her lower him into it, gasping as the heat stung his open cuts.

"I knew you always wanted to see me naked," he murmured as he lay back, and Rose offered him a watery smile and reached for the shampoo.

He let her wash him, and she took note of the bruises covering his body, of the finger marks on his hips and thighs, around his wrists, dark purple against his pale skin. There was a deep red mark in the shape of a mouth on one of his shoulders.

She didn't ask though, and he didn't offer to tell her, as she rubbed cream into his wounds, and bandaged any cuts.

Finally, when he lay tucked up in his old bed, she lay beside him, on top of the quilt, and he shifted close to her.

"I thought that was it," he said, his voice soft. "I thought I'd survived the Daleks and the Time Agency only to be done in by a couple of space pirates."

Rose closed her eyes, two tears sliding down her cheeks, into her hair.

"I'm sorry we didn't find you sooner," she whispered.

Jack opened his eyes.

"Hey," he said, reaching a hand out from under the covers to wipe at her tears. "You found me, didn't you?"

She sniffed.

"Well, the Doctor did really."

She saw the closed, hard look in his eyes when she mentioned the Doctor, and bit her lip.

"What happened, Jack?" she asked. "How did you survive? We thought you were dead."

Jack sighed.

"I don't know," he said. "I woke up in a glass prison with no memory of who I was or what I was doing there. They kept telling me I had killed people, lots of people, but I didn't know what they were talking about. I had this doctor." The faintest of sorrowful smiles crept across his lips. "He said he thought I was innocent, and did this thing, this operation or something, to get my memories back. I don't know how I survived. I remember the Dalek zapping me Rose, I remember what it felt like."

She stared at him.

"The Dalek zapped you? But you're still here?"

"Dominic said it could have been a false memory, but I don't think so. The next thing I remember was hearing the TARDIS engines, running around the corner to see it disappear."

"Oh Jack," she whispered, pulling him into her arms. "I'm so sorry. So, so sorry. If we'd have known for a moment that you were alive…"

Jack tried to laugh, but it sounded more like a sob.

"Hey, he did it, didn't he? He saved us all again." He pulled back from her then, to look into her face. "What happened, Rose? How did he survive? Why is he different?"

"He regenerated," she said, and after a moment she saw the light of understanding dawn in his eyes.

"The myth," he breathed. "It's true. He just keeps surprising, doesn't he?"

Rose smiled.

"Yeah, he does." She sighed. "I don't remember much of what happened on the satellite, Jack. The Doctor sent me home, and I was so angry with him. I tried to get the TARDIS to work. Mickey, my mum and I managed to pull the console open and then, then there was this light and this amazing singing. After that, I was back in the TARDIS and the Doctor started to regenerate. He said I looked into the heart of the TARDIS, whatever that means."

"What was it like?" he asked. "The regeneration?"

"Awful. He went all golden, then suddenly this completely unfamiliar head popped up. Then there was some kind of problem, and he spent all Christmas passed out in my mum's bed while some aliens tried to take over the world."

Jack laughed.

"Really?"

Rose smiled and nodded.

"Really. I was in the middle of making this speech to this auditorium of blood thirsty aliens, yammering on about Shadow Proclamations and all this, when he suddenly came out of the TARDIS in my mum's boyfriend's pyjamas and challenged them to a swordfight."

Her laughter died suddenly as she remembered how helpless she'd felt back then, when he'd changed. How Jack must be feeling now.

"It is still him, Jack. He may look different, but deep down, he's still the same Doctor."

Jack's eyes were far away, and Rose got the impression he wasn't ready to talk about it quite yet.

"Did they hurt you?" she asked softly. "The pirates?"

Jack's eyes were haunted, and for a moment she thought he might tell her everything, then his face closed off and he adopted a frozen smile.

"Nothing I can't handle," he said.

Rose pulled him back into her arms, and stayed with him until he slept, then quietly slipped from the bed, reminding herself of her mum as she made sure his quilt was tucked around him.

She went down to the TARDIS kitchen, and was surprised to find Evey sitting at the table, her head in her hands.

She had been crying, Rose could tell, but only smiled when she saw Rose.

"How is he?" she asked.

Rose shrugged.

"Tired, bruised. I think he'll be okay. Do you want some tea?"

Evey nodded, and Rose busied herself making two cups, adding extra sugar to hers.

"He's lucky," Evey said, when they were both sat down. "Lucky he's not a woman. Lucky they didn't do to him what they did to my sister."

Rose said nothing, though her suspicions were heavy and sickening in her stomach,

"How did you kill one?" she asked.

"Nail scissors," Evey replied. "I stabbed him through the eye and then the neck."

Rose gulped, but Evey only stared blankly into her tea.

"How old are you, Evey?"

"Fifteen," Evey whispered.

God, she was even younger than Rose had thought. She didn't deserve this.

"I'm so sorry."

"And I'm sorry for your friend. Just be thankful you found him in time."

Rose nodded, and Evey stood up.

"Is there somewhere I can sleep?"

Rose showed her to a spare room, then made her way slowly to the control room, where she had a feeling the Doctor would still be.

He was leaning over the screen, and didn't seem to notice her for a few moments.

"Doctor?"

"I'm devising a plan," he said, without looking up. "I think I might be able to tap into the worldwide screens they used for the Gamestation. What do you reckon, Rose? A stirring speech by the Prime Minister's only remaining daughter. Enough to call the remaining people of earth to arms?"

"Doctor," she said again, more firmly, and he stilled, hands white on the screen.

"How is he?" he asked.

"Sleeping. I explained everything as best I could. He doesn't really know what happened to him. I think he was confused, after everything that's gone on."

The Doctor nodded, eyes still on the screen.

"Did he say what they did to him?"

She hesitated, unwilling to share her suspicions. If they were true, she didn't think Jack would want anyone to know.

"No," she said finally. "Just beat him around a bit, I think."

"He's angry with me."

She stepped further into the room.

"He thought we'd just left him."

"You mean I just left him."

"Doctor…"

"But it's true, isn't it? I did. If I had just gone back…"

She bit her lip.

"He says he remembers hearing the TARDIS engines. That he just saw it disappear."

The Doctor looked up then, and she had never seen him so look desolate.

"Why couldn't I have waited? Just for a moment?"

"This isn't your fault. You couldn't have known. Nothing should have survived those Daleks…and we have him back now."

"Yes but at what price?"

Rose had no answer to that, and the Doctor sighed.

"We should go to bed, get some sleep."

"You never sleep," she said softly.

"I will tonight."

She nodded tiredly and left him, still bent over the screen, only to be woken an hour later by Jack, screaming as he woke from a nightmare.

She went to him and he clung to her, still half asleep, and she stayed with him through the night, determined that now, at least, she could be there for him.


tbc