Disclaimer: I don't own anything in the Who-verse. That honour belongs to RTD and the mighty and glorious BBC. The only thing I get out of this is a warm fuzzy feeling knowing I am trying to put right what once was wrong.

Authors Note: Lovely big thank you's to everyone who's reviewed. I say it every chapter cos I mean it every chapter. It'll be a few days before I can post chapter 15 as it's still in the hands of my proofreader Jo *big cheer for Jo* who is not a Torchwood fan (I know I know but not everyone can be addicted like us). She says it means she's objective, but I've noticed that she is extremely happy when I give her a new chapter and she told me 'It's quite interesting, I want to know where it goes'. This from Jo is high praise indeed.

Anyway first this chapter. Hopefully containing a little ray of hope for all Janto addicts everywhere...

Chapter XIV

Something was wrong. The Doctor could feel the eddies in the vortex as the time streams began to fray around the edges. He'd ignored them at first, thrusting them to the edge of his consciousness, convinced they were just natural fluctuations, like a stone in pond, disturbing the still waters for only a moment, before the placid surface resumed once more. For two days now, they had pushed into his mind, growing more insistent, more menacing, until he couldn't ignore them any longer. Something was terribly wrong, something he hadn't accounted for. Something that was threatening to destroy all his endeavours.

"It's all going horribly wrong," he complained plaintively to the TARDIS. "You would think, wouldn't you, after all the hard work I put in to get to this point, that the least they could do is stick to the plan."

The TARDIS whined as the Doctor fiddled with one of the controls.

"Yes, I know they don't know what the plan is, but that is hardly the point. It's very inconsid..." He was broken off by the sound of his mobile phone ringing. With a sigh of annoyance at the interruption, he scrabbled in his voluminous pockets until he located the offending article, and drew it out with a flourish. He glanced at the caller display,

"Ha, I thought so," he said triumphantly, flicking the phone open. "Jack!" There was a moment of deathly silence when even the TARDIS seemed to be holding her breath. "Martha?" The Doctor's voice was suddenly desolate. "Oh God no. Of course I'm coming. Tell Jack I'll be there very soon." As he closed the phone, the Doctor slumped against the central console, looking every one of his nine hundred and three years, his face grey and wet with silent tears.

"Not Donna. Not now." His expression became stony. "Not her. No way. You don't get her. I'm not having it, do you hear," he said loudly. He turned to face the console and started to change the settings, redirecting their flight to Earth. The TARDIS groaned under the abrupt change of course. "You can quit complaining as well," he commented sharply, immediately feeling contrite. "Sorry old girl, I know you're worried too," he apologised, thinking how Donna would have mocked him for talking to the TARDIS in the old days, before she understood how alive it really was. "Let's get a shift on then," he said patting the central column encouragingly. It might have been his imagination, but it seemed to him that the column started to rise and fall just that little bit faster.

The TARDIS materialised on the roof of the hospital, smack bang in the centre of the helipad which had, until thirty seconds earlier, held the air ambulance helicopter. The Doctor barely had time to throw open the TARDIS doors when Jack appeared by the roof access. The Doctor stared at him in shock. Never had he seen Jack look so defeated, his eyes sunken and dull with pain and lack of sleep, his shoulders hunched. As he stepped forward through the open doors, Jack raised his head to look at him but didn't move, as if the effort of putting one foot in front of the other was too much to manage.

The Doctor walked briskly across the helipad, his trainers squeaking on the wet tarmac, his coat flapping round his ankles in the breeze. As he reached Jack, he pulled the unresisting man into a hug, knowing that words were not needed at that moment, only comfort and understanding. He felt, rather than heard the single sob which issued from Jack's lips, and it twisted his hearts. Looking over Jack's shoulder he could see, just inside the doorway, the figures of Martha and Gwen, silent, watching Jack with fear on their faces. And the Doctor knew just from the look in their eyes, how deep Jack's despair was. If Jack lost Donna now he would run, and this time he would never come back. And one day soon the Earth would fall.

"Jack?" the Doctor spoke soothingly, as though he was addressing a young child. "Where's Donna?"

Jack raised his gaze to meet the Doctor's, his expression shockingly hostile, then without a word he pulled away from the Doctor, turned on his heel and disappeared inside. The Doctor moved to follow him, but Martha put her hand on his arm bringing him to a halt. She looked uncertainly at him. He gave her a small smile and leaning over, kissed her cheek.

"Martha," he said warmly. "How are you? How's life at Torchwood?"

"It was great until two days ago. I don't know what to do Doctor. I've never seen him like this, not even after..."

"Ianto died." Gwen finished giving the Doctor a swift hug of greeting. "Last time it was over so suddenly, and there was nothing he could do. Now, he's just watching, waiting for her to die and he's pulling away with every passing minute. You have to do something. We're losing him and he's still right here." Her voice was pleading.

"I'm not going to let that happen." The Doctor asserted, sounding a good deal more confident than he felt. "Martha, fill me in on what happened." He set off at a run in the direction Jack had taken. Martha smiled apologetically at Gwen and set off after him.

"Running. Always with the running," she called after the Doctor. Gwen followed them at a slow walk, feeling more optimistic than she had done for the last two days. The Doctor was here. He would put it right. After all, that was what he did, wasn't it?

After thirty paces Martha caught up with the Doctor who was stood at the top of the stairs waiting impatiently for her. She stood panting, trying to catch her breath, then looked at the Doctor. For a moment it was as though a stranger was looking back at her, his eyes weary.

"How bad is she?" he asked slowly.

"Honestly? We don't know. That's the problem. There was a complication with the labour. The baby is fine," she said quickly, answering his unspoken question. "It's a girl, but Donna bled heavily and lost a lot of blood. They had to do a hysterectomy to stop the bleeding. They've transfused her, and according to the surgeons, there is no reason why she shouldn't make a full recovery. But she's not waking up. Her vitals are erratic and her brain wave activity is strange, non existent one minute, off the charts the next. But the periods of activity are become less and less frequent as if her brain is shutting down. She's been in a coma for two days now. The UNIT neurosurgeon says that if she doesn't come round soon she may degenerate into a persistent vegetative state and her heart may give out. I'm a doctor, I've flown halfway round the Universe with you. I should be able to help her and all I can do is sit around and hold Jack's hand. Not that he'll let me. You're the first person I've seen him bear to touch apart from Donna and the baby since it happened."

"What happened to Donna wasn't your fault Martha. I'm just glad you were here for Jack. Even if he doesn't appreciate it now he will one day. Come on, let's have a look at the patient." His voice was cheerful, but Martha could hear the underlying worry.

She led him down the stairs to the High Dependency Unit. Outside a side room, the Doctor could see Wilf leaning against the wall. He looked old and frail. As he saw the Doctor his eyes lit up and he hurried along the corridor to meet him.

"Doctor. Thank God you're here. You're going to help her, aren't you? Help my Donna wake up."

"Hello Wilf," the Doctor shook his hand vigorously, "I'm going to do my best. How are you holding up?"

"I'll be fine once my girl wakes up," Wilf replied. "I'm doing better than Jack. You better go in."

The Doctor looked round the door into the side room. Across the room, Donna lay immobile surrounded by machines and wires looking fragile and oh, so small against the white bed. Jack sat in a chair beside the bed stroking her hair which was fanned out on the pillow. The doctor took an involuntary step backwards. She looked so wrong, lying there. Donna Noble should be laughing with him, running alongside him, asking impossible questions.

"Oh Donna," he said quietly. "I am so sorry."

At his entrance Jack looked up, "You fix this." His voice was hard, he refused to meet the Doctors' eyes.

"Jack..."

"No, Doctor. You're here this time. There are no excuses. You fix this. Now!" As he spoke he stood up and moved away from the bed allowing the Doctor to approach Donna's side. "I don't care what you have to do. What goddam rules you have to break. You just bring her back."

The Doctor didn't reply. He couldn't promise that he could fix this, he wasn't a god despite what some of his companions had seemed to think. There were some things that just couldn't be fixed. He really, really, hoped this wasn't one of them. And as for rules, at the moment there wasn't one he could think of which he wouldn't break for Donna if he had to. They just didn't seem that important.

"Can you leave us alone for a few minutes?" he said gently. Jack looked as if he was about to disagree but Gwen, who had just that moment appeared at the door, caught his arm,

"Jack, your daughter needs you. Let the Doctor do what he has to do." Her voice was low and calm. Without a word Jack allowed himself to be led from the room.

"Thank you," the Doctor mouthed to Gwen as she turned to leave. She acknowledged him with a imperceptible nod and closed the door behind her leaving the Doctor and Donna alone.

The Doctor looked at the monitor measuring brain wave activity. It was barely registering on the scale.

"OK, not good," he said. "Could do with a bit more information." He fumbled in his pocket pulling out his sonic screwdriver and fiddled with the settings. Pointing it at Donna's head he activated it, anxiously looking at the readings on the side panel.

"Oooh, now that's interesting. There is brain wave activity but not where it should be. Humans in this time period don't even know this bit of the brain exists. It's..." He trailed off as he remembered he didn't have an audience.

"Now then Donna," the Doctor said under his breath. "Let's see what's going on in there. And it better not be some drunken orgy." Carefully he placed his fingertips on either side of Donnas' temples and closed his eyes.

He let his mind access Donnas' thoughts, pushing through the barriers in her mind with just the merest pressure, searching for some sign of the Donna Noble he knew and loved. But it was dark and he was alone.

"Come on Donna I know you're in here somewhere," he muttered, trying to ignore the fear in his stomach. Deeper and deeper he pushed, until he knew he was coming close to that area of her mind that should be closed to her forever. When he'd taken away Donna's memories of her time with him in the TARDIS, he hadn't wiped her mind. That would have been too damaging, it would have removed some of those qualities that made Donna the person she was, and he hadn't been prepared to risk that. Instead, he'd moved them, locked them away in an area of her mind which she would never be able to access, a place no-one even knew existed. And it was there that he found her. As he pushed though the next barrier, there she was, vital and alive and...not alone. Intrigued the Doctor expanded his mind to try and capture the other presence.

"Now that is brilliant!" he suddenly said out loud to the empty room. "Totally impossible...but just brilliant. I love it when I'm right, which of course I always am...well most of the time...well at least fifty percent of the time. Now, how do I get her back?"

In Donna's mind, he searched around looking for the memory block's he'd put in place. Whatever happened now he had to make sure she came out with the block's intact. But maybe he could release one, just for a moment, give her a mental nudge and show her the bigger picture. What was at stake. Maybe that would be enough to convince her to allow herself to wake up. Scanning about he located one, containing just a few memories of their time together, nothing of the vast Time Lord knowledge which had threatened to destroy her. Time for that mental nudge, a trigger. Something uniquely him. The sonic screwdriver. He allowed his mind to touch Donna's for a fraction of a second. And looked in satisfaction as the block tumbled down, freeing the memories within.

The Doctor felt Donna scream his name as the memories overwhelmed her. The urge to reach out to her mind again was almost overwhelming but he kept back, allowing her consciousness to make sense of the memories. He was so engrossed in trying to keep his distance that he was totally unprepared for the tendril of Donna's mind which whipped out around his own. For a moment their minds merged. Slightly panicked, the Doctor pushed Donna from his mind. She shouldn't be able to do that. Only Reinette had ever been able to see into his mind that way. As before he had not had time to protect his thoughts. How much had she seen? Enough, he thought an instant later, as he sensed her angry cries of indignation. At her next words, he couldn't help sending an equally indignant and somewhat resigned thought back to her. For the last time, I am not a Martian.

Time to go he realised, before I break any more of the barriers down. Something that could really hurt her. Casting his mind around he could see some of the blocks were looking a little shaky. Touching Donna's mind again, more carefully this time so she wasn't aware of his presence, he could sense that, with her memories and the information she had absorbed from his mind, she had started to put the pieces together. Of course she had, she was fantastic. Time to go, he nudged gently, say your goodbyes. He felt her mind resist, just a little, as if she hadn't quite finished. Just a few minutes more, she seemed to say. He needs me, for just a few minutes more. The Doctor waited. It was the least he could do.

Soon the Doctor felt Donna's mind relax and he realised they were alone. The other presence was gone. Carefully he pulled the released memories back from Donna's thoughts and secured them away, back in the hidden part of her mind. Then he carefully withdrew, leading Donna's consciousness back to where it belonged.

He opened his eyes and lifted his hands away from her head. The room was glaringly bright and he had to blink several times to clear his vision. Glancing at the clock on the wall he saw that only a few minutes had passed. He looked down at Donna and then at the monitors. To his relief he saw that her vitals had stabilised and her brain wave pattern was now reading normal REM sleep. He ran his hand through his hair and grinned,

"Well, that was interesting. No one could ever accuse you of being ordinary could they Donna. Take care of yourself and that great hulking Harkness won't you." Then with a soft smile he leaned over and kissed her lightly on the forehead. "I miss you, you know. Just in case you were wondering. Bye for now." Then he turned and walked out of the room without looking back.

In the corridor outside, Martha, Gwen, Wilf and Sylvia were all leaning against the wall opposite displaying varying degrees of impatience. There was no sign of Jack. As the Doctor exited the room, they all turned to face him a look of expectation on their faces.

"Doctor, did you fix my Donna?" Wilf asked, putting into words the question they all wanted to ask.

The Doctor's face cracked into a wide grin. "Of course I did. She's sleeping normally now. She'll probably wake up in half an hour or so."

Wilf gave a whoop of joy. "I knew you could do it. Didn't I say Sylvie my girl, the Doctor can do anything!" Her eyes brimming with grateful tears Sylvia nodded.

"Thank you," she said sincerely.

"Anything for Donna," the Doctor said lightly, although every person present knew he meant it. "Now, I need to be safely out of here before she wakes up. Where's Jack?"

"On the next floor down, with the baby," Gwen said quickly. "I'll take you."

"Lead the way," the Doctor said cheerfully, holding his arm out. Gwen linked arms and they set off down the corridor leaving Martha, Wilf and Sylvia to crowd into Donna's room.

In the maternity ward, Jack waited. It was his fault. Again. He'd put Donna in danger just by being around her. He looked at his daughter sleeping against his chest, a shock of deep auburn hair already crowning her head. How long would it be before she suffered too, just because Jack Harkness was her father. He should run, he knew that. Run far away. It had been a mistake to ever come back. He should never have listened to the Doctor. He had manipulated their lives and Donna was paying the price. At that moment, foolish as it seemed, he wished he had never met the Doctor and been swept into the maelstrom that was his life. He would wait until it was over, until he was sure his daughter was safe and then leave. Let Gwen look after her, bring her up. He knew she would without asking. He could always depend on Gwen.

He heard a movement in the corridor and looked up, jolted out of his morbid thoughts. Gwen stood in the doorway, and behind her the Doctor, both wearing wide foolish smiles. Jack felt his heart leap, all thoughts of running gone from his mind.

"Doctor?" His voice was hoarse with anticipation.

"She's going to be fine Jack. She'll be awake in half an hour or so."

Jack leapt to his feet, disturbing his daughter who began to wail indignantly.

"Here, give her to me," Gwen demanded and without waiting for an answer plucked the screaming infant out of Jack's arms. In two steps, Jack had moved past Gwen, a thousand watt smile on his face, and kissed the Doctor full on the mouth.

The Doctor spluttered. "I'm not sure that was necessary," he said brusquely wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

"It was absolutely necessary," Jack retorted. "How else can I thank you?"

"Saying it would have been fine," the Doctor replied mildly but his face was wreathed in a cheeky smile. "And you're welcome."

"She's really alright?" Jack said unbelievingly.

"Really," the Doctor assured her. "Right as rain."

"What was wrong?" Jack asked. "Why wouldn't she wake up?"

This was the tricky bit, the Doctor mused, it wasn't the right time to tell Jack who he had found in Donna's mind. It had only confirmed his beliefs, convinced him that the path he had chosen for them all was the right one. But it was too soon, way too soon and in some things Jack Harkness was not a patient man.

"She'd just got a bit lost," he said finally, deciding on being deliberately ambiguous. "I just helped her find her way home."

Jack looked at him sceptically. "There has to be more to it than that."

"There is," the Doctor confirmed with a sly wink, "but I think you know me better than that. Spoilers. Major spoilers! Just sit back and enjoy the ride. I think you're going to have your hands full. She clearly takes after her mother." The Doctor stepped over to take a look at the baby in Gwens' arms. "She's beautiful Jack. Does she have a name?"

"Not yet. I was waiting for Donna." Jack looked at the clock impatiently.

The Doctor laughed, "Go on. I'll see myself out." Jack grabbed his hand and squeezed it.

"Thank you. You'll never know how much this means to me."

"I have a good idea," the Doctor replied, but he was talking to an empty space. He turned back to Gwen.

"A pleasure as always Gwen Williams," he said bowing low and then without waiting for her to reply he blew her a kiss and disappeared in a flurry of coat tails.

Don't you just love meddling Time Lords *winks*. Oh how I wish he'd meddled on CoE Day 4 and saved us all many soggy tissues *sighs and sniffs*