Author Notes: Thank you to all those who reviewed! It's nice to know Donna isn't universally hated. And thanks to mysterypoet66 for the useful advice!

Chapter 4

"Thanks Ianto." Jack smiled up at the Welshman as he was handed his morning coffee. His reply was only a wan smile; it had been a month since Jack had lost half of those he had promised to protect, and none of them had recovered. Today was worse, and Ianto clearly knew it. Today would be the day Jack would start looking for replacements, because there was no way they could continue on the way they were. "Gwen in yet?"

Ianto nodded, "Just arrived. We haven't got any urgent business to attend, so she's checking over some old police reports, looking for anything strange. If that's all sir?"

Jack was hard-pressed to stop the sigh from escaping his lips. If anything, they had all grown further apart since they had lost Owen and Tosh. Shaking his head in response, he took a sip of his coffee, before rising from his desk. Jack wound his way aimlessly though the Hub, mentally going over the potential employee files he had acquired over the week, but each one was never as strong as Owen, or as imaginative as Tosh. They had been his first recruits in his attempt to rebuild Torchwood, and although he had been forced to replace Suzie, the situation had hardly been similar.

Wind rippled his dark hair, causing him to pause in his thoughts, glancing up instinctively, expecting to see a low-flying pterodactyl, but nothing. And then he heard it, ever so softly, like a whisper at the back of his mind. If he hadn't known, it would have simply brushed by his consciousness, but he did. A smile spread across his face, "I'll be right back!" He yelled over his shoulder to Gwen, out of the Hub before she could protest.

Unlike the last time, he didn't run, only walked purposefully. He no longer needed answers. Sure enough, there it was, that old ridiculously conspicuous, yet utterly unnoticeable machine, and out stepped the man he had searched so long for. Jack frowned. The Doctor's face was grim, only offering him a courtesy smile as Jack approached and embraced his friend.

And then Jack noticed someone else; a woman. He smiled, "You must be Donna. Captain Jack Harkness at your service."

The woman looked surprised, but reined her emotions well, "How did you..?"

"Doctor Martha Jones and I keep in touch – I think you met a while back, set the sky on fire?" He shrugged, "Gotta keep a close eye on those UNIT blokes. Never know what they're going to get up to next."

The Doctor made a sound of agreement, before setting his shoulders. A bad feeling was settling in Jack's stomach; neither were acting like this was a social visit, "Why don't you come in, Jack?"

"What's going on?" Jack's voice dropped dangerously low, and the Doctor had to suppress a wince. Something had definitely happened since they had last parted ways, because Jack was far too on edge for it still to have been residual wariness from the Master.

"I have something of yours." The Doctor's words were mysterious at best, and then he moved aside, giving Jack a clear view of the tiny body curled up on the Tardis' worn seats.

Both Donna and the Doctor were silent, unsure of how Jack would react. They watched as he moved cautiously forward. He bent down to brush a few strands of hair out of the woman's face and swallowed tightly, "I'm sorry, Doctor, you've got the wrong time, she-"

But what she was, the Doctor didn't find out, as the woman stirred at the words spoken right up close to her, and opened her eyes. Jack blanched; Suzie had been bad enough, but not Toshiko, please no. He couldn't talk to her, she didn't belong in his time, not anymore. "Jack?"

Torchwood's leader had to hide his reaction at the heart-wrenching combination of hope and desolation that laced his friend's voice. Before he could explain to her, however, she had thrown her arms tight around him, a dry sob escaping into his neck. Reluctantly he returned the hug, knowing that as long as Ianto and Gwen didn't see her before the Doctor returned her to the proper time, it would be okay. "Hey Tosh." He whispered the meaningless words that suddenly said so much more.

Finally, Jack was forced to pull out of the contact. He smiled weakly at her, stroking his thumb over her cheek, before twisting to face the Doctor, "You've got the wrong time – she doesn't belong here."

The Doctor frowned at Jack's words. He knew that statement was false; the Tardis would never miss aim on something like this. The woman seemed to find those words just as strange, "Jack? What's going on? We're home! I don't know how but we are. What are you talking about?"

Jack tried to stop her as she struggled to her feet, eyes taking in every detail of the Tardis. He noticed how thin she was, and the clothes she wore; as tired and bedraggled as the empty look in her eyes. Doubt began to form – when had his Tosh ever looked like that in all the time she had known him? The Doctor stepped forwards as Toshiko moved to stand beside Jack, surprisingly sure footed, "Donna and I sort of...stumbled across you. Your friend asked us to take you home, so we did. We-"

"What?" Toshiko's eyes had widened, suddenly darting frantically around her, as if searching for something she could not find. "Where is he?" The words were barely a murmur, her voice engulfed by her rising terror.

"I'm sorry, I'm so, so sorry. We didn't have time. I couldn't..." The Doctor faltered, knowing already that words would not be enough.

"You left him?" Her voice had gained a sudden power, frosting the air, her eyes fixed unmoving from the Doctor. "You left him there?" Suddenly she had taken two strides forwards, throwing her smaller form against him, scratching, hitting, punching weakly at his chest, crying out at him. The Doctor held her gently as she released her rightful anger at him, but Jack stepped in, easily lifting her up around the waist, grimacing as he felt her ribs sticking out slightly from her skin, completely bewildered.

"Toshiko! Stop it!" She fell limply in his arms, momentary strength spent, and a sob wracking her frame.

But then she raised her head to stare blankly at the Doctor, emotionless, certain in her words, "The kinder thing to do would have been to kill him."

The Doctor looked upon her with pity and sorrow, "I would never have done that. There's always another way."

Toshiko barked out a half hysterical laugh, "Only those who can never understand death would ever say that. Those lucky ones who do not know what it is like to wish for oblivion with every fibre of your being."

Jack had had enough. He whirled Tosh around to face him, grasping her shoulders tightly, forcing her to look at him, "Tosh, listen to me. I don't know why you think that, but it's not true. It will get better, I promise."

A sneer twisted its way onto Toshiko's face, so unlike her normal expression, as she wrenched away from him, stumbling backwards, "I died Jack! How can things possibly get better? That stupid boy sacrificed his eternity to get me out of there, and now he will steadily cease to be the person I love! He knew he had it the worse out of all of us – her little pet, those things' fascination – the human who once held Death itself. So don't you dare tell me it will get better Jack Harkness, because Owen and I both learned the hard way that the only way things can get better is true death in its last form."

Jack had gone incredibly pale, his eyes fixed on the small woman standing in front of him, dry tear tracks snaking their way down her face. "No." It was the only word he could utter, the only one. The uttermost denial.

Donna stood unashamedly gaping at the exchange, whispering to the Doctor, "She was dead? What kind of planet was that? I mean, was it, you know, Hell?"

The Doctor's eyes were murky, but he shook his head, accepting the reality of the woman's words for the time being, "How long were you on that planet for, Toshiko?"

Her eyes flicked to his, turning inward for a moment before answering, "I don't know how long it was before we arrived there, but it felt like seconds, and both of us arrived within moments of each other." A bitter smile ghosted across her face as if she was remembering the experience, "Owen kept a count – he thought we had been there a little over two months, but it was hard to tell."

"You've only been dead for a month here." Jack croaked out, his eyes never leaving his dead friend. She was breathing, not a mark on her, not gunshot wound to the stomach – so who the hell was she? Because she couldn't be the woman he had held as she took her last breath.

Donna snorted, "Only? Nice way of phrasing it."

"Donna." The Doctor admonished, before turning to Toshiko, "I promise I will go back for your friend – I will not leave him to them. There is something wrong about that place, and it is my responsibility to find out what. But before we return, I need to know everything, from all of you, starting from when you both...died."

Toshiko nodded sombrely, all energy gone. Jack agreed slowly, "We should go to the Hub. I need to check something. Do you think you're up to it? Gwen and Ianto are there."

"I will be fine, Jack. It would be nice to see them again. To see the Hub." It was not until the four stepped outside that Jack realised that she had missed out the sky from her words.

Owen huddled into himself, feeling strangely cold as he leant against the over-heated metal imbedded in the rock. Suzie had been more...vindictive than usual. He expected it was because her 'superiors' had punished her. He squeezed his eyes shut, pressing his fingers into them until he saw stars. No. He was not going to start feeling sorry for her. If he did, he would really start to lose it.

But now Toshiko was gone, safe, home. What else was there? His eyes wandered over to a rocking form of a man. He continually stared off into space, muttering that 'something was coming'. One of the women, one of the more coherent ones, who Owen suspected was one of his immediate predecessors, had named him Alex. Gone mad before he had even died. Lucky guy.

Owen came back to himself, wincing as he looked down at his hands. His right hand was red and raw, covered in scabs and blisters from repeated rubbing and scratching. His left hand was not much better. It was a habit he had fallen to a week or so into their lives here, whether he was thinking, sleeping, anything. Tosh had always brought him out of it, always made him stop; she alone had been able to sooth the hidden memories of his 'sessions' with Suzie away. But she was gone now; all he could do was dwell.

His eyes slid back to Alex, not noticing the habitual action return, not noticing the blood ooze slowly from a torn-away scab, not feeling his fingernails dig deeply into his broken skin, trying to be rid of the nameless thing that clung to him, within him.

Alex's eyes connected with his for a moment, understanding shifting beneath the surface.

Now they were all truly alone.

To Be Continued...

Author Notes: Hope you liked it!