Jack suddenly shot up when a voice whispered in his ear.
"J-a-a-c-k," it whispered.
Jack shook his head; it felt like someone had stuffed cotton wool inside his brain.
The voice whispered again. "Help me."
He fought to clear his head, so he could hear the voice clearly, distorted as it was by the cotton wool.
The voice whispered again, sounding more urgent. "Please, they want to kill me."
With those words everything became crystal ...it was the Doctor's voice!
With an intake of breath he looked round and found he was in his quarters. A pain in the back of his neck brought back an unwelcome memory...they'd sedated him.
With a growl of anger and frustration he stood up and climbed the ladder back up to the central Hub.
He stopped shy of the exit, wary of the others being around. But the Hub was quiet, only the constant humming of the Rift monitor broke the silence.
Cautiously, not trusting the silence he moved across and down the stairs.
He stopped at the door to the rest area and chanced a look inside. He saw Martha and Dr Michaels who were sleeping. There was no sign of Ianto or Gwen, much better that way, he thought.
"Jack, hurry," the Doctor's voice echoed in his head, insistent and compelling.
He stopped outside the med-room, unsure of whether he should enter, uneasy at what he might find.
"Jack," the Doctor's voice said again, and that made his mind up.
He opened the door and stepped in.
The Doctor was lying exactly as he had left him, deathly still and paler than his normal pale, and yet, there was something different...what was it?
He moved closer, was it possible?
A smile broke onto his face, the Doctor was awake and did his eyes look clear, and to his delight the Doctor turned at the sound of his footsteps and he knew that the Doctor could see him.
As he approached the Doctor struggled up, and the look of fear on his face caused Jack to falter.
"Doctor, it's okay, it's me, Jack," he said softly.
"You have to help me," the Doctor said, fear making his voice quiet. "They want to kill me."
Jack stepped closer. "No, they're helping you," he said gently.
"Jack, please, get me away from here, I need..."
The Doctor's words were cut off by his cry of pain.
Jack was at his side in seconds, arms protectively around him.
"Ssh now, I'll fetch Martha," he said.
The Doctor's reaction was not what he expected, considering the pain he'd been in.
His hand clamped round Jack's arm with surprising strength and he pulled himself up until he was inches away from his face.
"I need to get out," the Doctor hissed.
He started to pull away from the Doctor's grip, but found he couldn't.
"Doctor, what are you doing?" he said and tried once more to extricate himself from the Doctor's grip.
"I need to get out...need to get away... I need...!" the Doctor gasped out as another wave of pain hit him.
He was getting frustrated, why couldn't he make Jack understand? If they tried to cure or kill him.
Another wave of pain burnt through him, telling him that he was losing the fight against the thing inside.
He knew with horrific clarity that if they tried to kill him, although it would kill the thing inside, it would only let something else out, and he would definitely not let them kill him.
So, he'd done the only thing he could, turn to his oldest friend, one who would help him, one who would understand.
"Please Jack...!."
Another wave of pain hit him and he lost his grip on Jack as muscles and nerves burnt.
Jack stepped back when the Doctor let go of his arm.
The Doctor was asking him to do something he knew he couldn't.
He shook his head. "I can't," he said, his heart almost stopping at the look that crossed the Doctor's face.
"Please Jack!" the Doctor gasped out.
"I'm sorry, I can't," he said again.
He froze when he heard what sounded like a growl come from the Doctor.
He took a step back as the Doctor sat up, then stood up, causing the wires and tubes to rip away, leaving bloody trails on his arms.
Jack stopped again when the Doctor moved towards him and stopped a few paces away.
"Then get out of my way Harkness!" he snarled and went to move past Jack.
Those words broke Jack's paralysis and he moved to block the Doctor.
"I can't let you," he said quietly.
The look the Doctor gave him was nothing short of murderous, and Jack was close enough to see then change from brown to stormy black.
"Move Harkness," he said in the low dangerous tone that Jack knew too well.
The Doctor moved again and Jack blocked his way once again, this time there were only inches between.
"No," he said.
The Doctor drew himself to his full height and stared directly into Jacks' eyes.
Anger flashed through him, why was Jack being so stubborn...unless? No, he wouldn't, not Jack, not the one person he could rely on to understand.
He wouldn't believe it...did he want him dead!
The anger that had flashed through him began turning to rage, primal, unthinking, uncontrollable rage.
"I said move!" he snarled and instead of trying to step round Jack, he grabbed hold of Jack and pushed him.
Jack stood his ground as the Doctor had pulled himself up to his full height, and didn't back down when the almost black eyes bored into his.
He could see the Doctor was physically trembling with rage, but he still didn't move.
He didn't even react when the Doctor snarled at him to move, and was taken by surprise at the speed at which the Doctor grabbed hold of him.
It was like being thrown by a F5 tornado and Jack only felt a few seconds of pain before he hit the wall and knew nothing.
He never saw the Doctor give him one last look, full of contempt, nor did he see him leave the med-room.
Nobody saw him find his clothes, nor did they see him climb the stairs and leave the Hub.
Quiet descended on the Hub, the only sound was the sound of the Rift monitor. Apart from that, there was nothing but silence.