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.

Author's Note: Sorry for the delay getting this up. Hopefully it's worth the wait. Thank you to everyone who's reviewed, story alerted and added Purpose as a favourite story. i am trying to reply to everyone who has reviewed personally, but I'm afraid I'm running a little behind. Apologies and be assured I will get there eventually. Please don't let it put you off reviewing. I love them * hugs all round*

Chapter XV

"Donna?" Jack's worried voice filtered into Donna's consciousness from a long way off. Her name, repeated over and over.

"Sod off Jack, person trying to sleep here," she muttered crossly, trying to pull the duvet over her head. It was at that point she realised she couldn't move her arms. She forced her eyes to open and Jack's face swam hazily in front of her. With shock she realised that he was crying, although the smile on his face was the widest she'd ever seen. Shifting her gaze down she saw needles and tubes taped into her arms. Looking around she saw sterile white walls, stainless steel and beside the bed a monitor beeping steadily. She was in hospital. Why? Suddenly she remembered. The baby. There had been something wrong. Her momentary panic was dispelled by the tears of joy on Jack's face. Surely if anything had been wrong with the baby, his face would be telling a very different picture. The last thing she remembered was being wheeled down the long corridor to the operating theatre and pain, lots of pain.

"Sweetheart. I thought I'd lost you." Jack gave her a soft kiss on the lips. "I was so scared."

"Jack Harkness scared? Ssh, you'll ruin your tough guy reputation," Donna croaked, her throat parched. Immediately Jack held a cup of water with a straw to her lips and she sucked on it greedily.

"Easy," Jack warned. "I don't want you choking to death now."

Donna gave him a Look (capital L included) over the rim of the cup and Jack felt a warm glow. She was back. His Donna was back.

"Jack," she said finally, her voice sounding much more normal. "What the hell am I doing in hospital?" The dark shadows beneath Jack's eyes reminded Donna of the day she had first seen him. When his grief over Ianto had been raw. Whatever had happened to her must have been bad. Bad enough to cause that grief to resurface again. Jack needed to know she was really OK, and at that moment winding him up seemed the best way to do it.

Jack frowned. "Er don't you remember?" The Doctor hadn't mentioned anything about memory loss. Although to be fair he hadn't really given him the chance to say anything much.

"Would I be asking if I did?" Donna said cuttingly. Taken aback Jack failed to notice the telling glint in her eye.

"Er....I....um...." Jack was lost for words. He'd been so wrapped up in wondering whether Donna would wake up, that he hadn't given any thought to what he would say when she did. How he could tell her what he had let the doctors do.

Donna looked at Jack's suddenly stricken face and felt a sudden shaft of fear. There was still something wrong, something Jack couldn't tell her. All thoughts of winding Jack up evaporated. She grabbed his wrist tightly, squeezing so hard that he winced.

"What is it Jack? What's the matter? Is there something wrong with the baby?" Her voice was urgent and high pitched as the fear rose in her chest.

"You do remember." Jack said accusingly, his voice uncharacteristically harsh. "Not funny Donna. If you knew what we've all been through the last two days. Me and your mum, not to mention Wilf and Gwen.

"I'm sorry," Donna cried out, her eyes tearing. "Please Jack. Just tell me."

Jack focused on her white face and his expression softened as his anger vanished, "She's fine, sweetheart."

"It's a girl?" Donna choked, as she started to smile through her tears.

Jack nodded. "She's beautiful Donna. She's just like you, green eyes, auburn hair, incredible set of lungs and a temper!" He laughed. "She's perfect. Thank you for giving her to me." He leaned over and gave her an intense and passionate kiss. Donna tried to wrap her arms around him but found her progress impeded by the tangle of wires and tubes.

"Can I get out of this lot?" she said somewhat aggrieved.

"Not until the doctors give you the all clear," Jack replied, his voice turning serious. "It was touch and go there for a while."

"What happened to me?" Donna asked curiously.

"Not now, I'll tell you later. After you've met our daughter. I'll be right back."

Before Donna could protest he had vanished out of the door. She could vaguely hear the protesting voices of her mum and grandad demanding to be let into see her, but she guessed Jack had asked him to wait as the voices faded away and the door remained firmly closed. She felt faintly annoyed that Jack was clearly keeping something from her. Whatever it was, it was enough to turn him into a coward. Something which only happened when he was truly afraid of the consequences, of being rejected. Aware of the nagging pain across her stomach, thankfully numbed by what she presumed was a healthy cocktail of drugs, she started to think she had an inkling of what it might be. She pushed it to the back of her mind, she couldn't think about it now.

The door banged as Jack barged his way through clutching a bundle wrapped in a yellow cellular blanket. The bundle was making a lot of noise. Donna smiled. Jack reached down and placed the bundle in the crook of Donna's elbow so she could curl her arm around it.

"Your daughter, Mrs Harkness," he announced proudly.

"Your daughter too," Donna said softly as she looked into her daughters' green eyes. She was dying to reach over and touch her face, feel her tiny hand grip her fingers, but once again the wires prevented her. It was the final straw.

"OK Jack," she said impatiently, her eyes flashing dangerously. "I don't care who you have to speak to, just get me out of this lot. I want to hold my baby!"

Jack saluted and disappeared without a word. Seconds later he was back with a battery of doctors in tow.

"Mrs Harkness..." one began, who judging by the deference the others showed him, was the most senior. "I really must advise..."

He got no further.

"Listen sunshine," Donna said icily. "I feel fine. I am fine. I'm not asking you to withdraw life support. I just want to hold my daughter and if these tubes are not out of me in sixty seconds I will tear them out myself and then scream negligence. Do I make myself clear? Well?" Jack just waited to one side watching in amusement as the doctors stood in stunned silence. Almost as one they turned to look at him, looking for some support but he merely shrugged his shoulders. He valued his life too much to stand in the way of Donna Noble on a mission.

"You heard the lady," he said, slightly apologetically.

At once the doctors seemed to spring into action, crowding round the bed. Jack carefully lifted the baby away so that they could work without hindrance. Almost immediately Donna felt the stinging pain of needles being removed from her arms and hands

"You can leave the pain medication one," she said quickly to a young black female doctor, aware again of the pain in her stomach. Martha bobbed her head with a grin to avoid Donna's gaze. She didn't think that Donna would recognise her but she didn't want to take the chance. She had just needed to see Donna awake and know she was alright for herself.

"Of course Ma'am," she said deferentially.

"Oi, are you being funny?" Donna warned.

"Not at all Mrs Harkness. It's just nice to see an assertive woman giving this bunch what for." Martha explained, trying desperately to avoid Donna's gaze again. Jack coughed and threw her a warning glance and wordlessly she backed out of the room, back to the safety of the corridor.

After a few more moments the doctors moved aside and Donna found, to her relief, that she could now move her arms freely, although they felt heavy and somewhat alien. Impatiently she beckoned Jack over, who immediately deposited the baby into her waiting arms. For the first time Donna looked at her daughter properly. As if aware of her mothers scrutiny the little girl shifted slightly and looked straight into her mother's eyes. Wise eyes, Donna thought in wonderment, no more than that, old eyes. Jack had been right, the colour was most definitely from her, but the look in them, the look of knowledge of a thousand lifetimes, that was pure Jack.

"Hello beautiful," she said in a awed whisper. "Sorry I'm late." She felt tears cascade down her cheeks. In the next instant Jack was sitting on the bed beside her and had lifted her to cradle the pair of them against his chest. Catching sight of their reflection in the small mirror above the handbasin on the opposite wall, he caught his breath. It was a sight he had thought he would never see again. A family, his family.

Twenty minutes later loud voices in the corridor alerted Donna to the fact that neither her mother, Wilf or Gwen (judging by the Welsh accent) were prepared to be held at bay any longer.

"She's my daughter. You have no right to keep me out her!" Sylvia was saying, not quite shouting but using that tone of voice Donna recognised from her teens. The one that brooked no argument.

"Jack, for God's sake let them in or I won't be held responsible for the consequences." Donna urged with a smile.

Jack grimaced. "I was enjoying having you all to myself for a while. Besides there are some things we need to talk about. His voice was serious.

"Will anything change if we talk about it later rather than now?" Donna asked.

Jack shook his head.

"Then we talk about it later." Donna decided. "We need to present out daughter officially to the world." She smacked her forehead theatrically with the palm of her hand. "That's a point. What is she called? I assume you've given her a name."

Jack looked scandalised. "Of course I haven't named her. I was waiting for you. I'm not going to take my life in my hands by giving our daughter the name Mercedes without checking with you first." He looked at Donna's horrified expression, and winked.

"Gotcha,"

Donna rewarded him with another Look (this time underlined for emphasis), and her eyes narrowed.

"Actually I was thinking of Siân," she said airily, looking at the now sleeping infant.

"Siân?" Jack tried the name out. " Siân Harkness. I like it. No middle name?"

Donna shook her head, "Doesn't need one."

"Alright, Siân Harkness it is. I'll go let your mother in before she kicks the door down." Jack stood up, propping Donna against some pillows and moved towards the door. Pausing he turned to look at her.

"What made you decide on Siân. It's not one of the names you were tossing about before?" Jack remembered one particular conversation where the names Evangeline and Beatrice had been suggested, Donna's excuse being that she had been a big fan of the House of Elliot television show when she was younger. He hadn't minded Evangeline but had ruled out Beatrice with a snort of derision.

Donna looked at him a little oddly, as if his question was a surprise.

"Because it was Ianto's grandmother's name of course, the one he was named after. By the way Jack, all those times you told me about Ianto you never mentioned what a nice ass he had."

Whatever answer Jack had been expecting it wasn't that. He stood for a full minute gaping at her, whilst she gave him an exasperated look.

"Jack? The door?" she said finally. Unspeaking Jack fumbled with the door handle, pulling the door open and waving Sylvia and Wilf inside. Then the stepped through the door grabbing Gwen's arm as he passed and pulling her back outside.

"Jack? What are you playing at? I want to go see Donna," Gwen protested.

"Where's the Doctor?" Jack asked urgently.

"He's gone," Gwen said. "Just after he came to find you. Why? Is anything wrong?"

"Not exactly..." Jack seemed to struggle for words. "It's probably nothing. It doesn't matter. You go in. Tell Donna I'll be back in a minute." He released Gwen's arm and after a final curious glance at him she disappeared inside the room.

Jack walked out of the High Dependency Unit and into a corridor, where there were no signs proclaiming that mobile phones were banned. Then he dialled the Doctor's number. After thirty rings when neither the Doctor or his answering machine had answered, Jack came to the conclusion the Doctor was avoiding him. He wasn't exactly surprised. The Doctor had clearly been hiding something about Donna's coma, and he obviously wasn't prepared to let Jack in on the big secret. In truth Jack felt a little hurt that the Doctor didn't trust him, although he had no doubt that the Doctor felt he was doing what was best for him. It was almost as if he were a child who couldn't be trusted to make the right decisions for himself. What secret could be so important that he couldn't be trusted to think clearly.

After staring at the phone for a moment he dialled another number. This one was answered on the first ring.

"Lois?" Jack jumped in as soon as Lois answered, "I need you to look up some information in a sealed personnel file...Yes, Donna and the baby are both fine now. I'm glad Gwen called you. We're calling her Siân. Lois? The personnel file? I need you to look at Ianto's file. His family history. Can you tell me what his grandmothers' names were. No, first names." Jack impatiently tapped the fingers of his free hand against his thigh as he waited for Lois to pull up the relevant information. Finally he heard Lois pick up the phone at the other end and listened carefully. "Bronwyn and Siân," he repeated. "Yes, that is a coincidence. Thank you Lois."

As he hung up Jack looked at the phone in his hand and leant back against the wall of the corridor. How had Donna known? It wasn't as if Siân was a really common name. He hadn't known what Ianto's grandmother was called. Beyond his sister Rhiannon, Jack didn't know much about Ianto's family at all. He'd always been a bit reticent to talk about them, or his childhood, if truth be told. Jack hadn't minded. He could appreciate the value of keeping your past in the past. But Donna had known, and what is more seemed surprised that Jack didn't. And as for that comment about Ianto's ass. Where the hell had that come from? You didn't discuss the quality of your ex's ass with your wife, even if he had no argument with her assessment. What had she been doing all that time she was in the coma? What had the Doctor found in her mind? What was this grand scheme the Doctor seemed so intent on seeing played out to his rules, giving manipulation a whole new definition? As Jack wandered back along the corridor, unanswerable questions buzzing round his head, he wondered for the thousandth time just what ultimate purpose would justify the Doctor engineering his and Donna's, and now Siân's, lives together.

When he reached Donna's room he peeped round the door to glimpse Donna peering past the fussing form of her mother, looking in dire need of rescue. The smile on her face was fixed and as she spotted him her eyes pleaded help. With a wink at her he strode him clapping his hands in an authoritative manner saying,

"Come on now. Time's up. The new mother needs her rest. Out! The lot of you!"

There was much grumbling from Sylvia but Wilf, to his credit, took her firmly by the arm.

"Come on love. Let Donna get some rest now. See you tomorrow darlin'. Look after that little angel." He bent down and gave first Siân and then Donna a kiss on the cheek, then led the still protesting Sylvia from the room.

As they left Gwen gave Jack a hug and then vanished after them with a wave.

"Finally!" Donna breathed with a sigh. "I love them to death, but God. You'd think no-one had ever had a baby before the way my mother was talking. All the do's and don'ts. I think even Gwen was intimidated. She tried to suggest some ideas for breastfeeding techniques, assuming I still can after all this, and my mother looked at her like she was an alien from another planet and asked whether she was one of those, quote 'hippy mothers who got their breasts out all over the place'. I've never seen Gwen speechless before."

Jack laughed. "Gwen's perfected the art of turning a deaf ear. Your mother is chicken feed next to Rhys's mother. Now she is scary. I consider myself quite lucky in choice of mother-in-laws..."

Donna batted at him with her free hand. "Shut up and take Siân for a minute. My arm has gone to sleep. I want to have a go feeding her."

Jack took Siân from her and gently rocked his daughter cooing softly whilst Donna fidgeted trying to get herself into a comfy position. Then she beckoned for Jack to return the baby to her and she set about trying to get Siân to latch on. After a frustrating couple of minutes where Siân seemed interested in every part of Donna except the bit she was being aimed at, Donna huffed at her daughter.

"Look sweetheart. You need to feed. I need to feed you. Give your mother a break and stop playing hard to get." In reply, Siân head-butted Donna none to gently and then obediently proceeded to begin suckling at her breast.

Donna smiled, "That feels really weird. Nice... but weird. How did you feed her while I was out? Formula?"

Jack shook his head with a wicked smile, "Breast milk. Expressed."

Donna blushed scarlet, "You mean..."

"Yep. I had to fondle your breasts six time a day. Terrible chore."

"I bet," Donna replied acidly. "I hope we were alone."

"Every time," Jack promised. Then his eyes turned serious and when he continued his voice was low. "The doctor's thought I was mad but I thought that as long as you could feed her then there was a chance you'd come out of it. If I'd let them give her a bottle of formula it would have felt like giving up on you. I wasn't prepared to do that."

Donna reached up with her free hand and stroked his face. "I don't know what happened while I was gone. I dreamt something – something really important, but it's all a blur now. What I do know was it was suddenly very important I come back to you. To keep you safe. So that's what we're going to do Jack, Siân and I. We're here to keep you safe and we're not going anywhere, ever again."

Jack caught her hand. "I love you, you know that don't you."

"I know"

"There's something I need to tell you. About the labour."

Donna swallowed hard, "It went wrong didn't it? Badly?" Jack nodded hating himself for not being able to say the words. "What did they do Jack?" Her voice was tight as if she already knew the answer, which of course she did.

"Hysterectomy." It was such a bald, clinical word. "There was no choice, you would have died and they asked my permission and..." Jack rushed on, aware that Donna's face was set in stone. She deliberately withdrew her hand from his and instead stroked Siân's cheek. Jack flinched.

"I'm sorry Donna. You have to believe me." Jack was babbling, he knew it. She had to say something. Why wouldn't she say something, anything. Even to rail at him.

"Say something. Please," he pleaded.

Donna brought her eyes up to meet his. There was no blame, no recriminations, in their depths just a dark shadow of loss.

"I wanted more. I didn't want Siân to be an only child like I was. I wanted to give you a son Jack. I'm so sorry." And then she started to cry, silently, great tears rolling down her face falling onto Siân's head. Sensing her mother's distress, Siân nuzzled still closer, comforting in her nearness. Donna put her hand out blindly feeling for Jack's hand and when he grasped hers she pulled him close with surprising strength.

"It's no-ones fault," she said thickly. "Especially not yours Jack. If you hadn't agreed I wouldn't be here. I'd have missed her."

Jack dropped a kiss on her forehead, sensing that anything more wouldn't have been right at that moment. He sat on the edge of the bed.

"Will you stay here tonight?" Donna asked. "I don't want to be on my own." Without a word Jack kicked off his boots and lay down beside her on the bed, her head resting in the circle of his arms. He reached out and dimmed the lights, then closed his eyes listening to the soft sounds of Donna breathing and Siân's snuffles. Within minutes he was fast asleep, the first sleep he'd had in three days, his breathing deep and even.

Donna looked up at his face, relaxed and peaceful in repose.

"I love you Jack." Donna said quietly so as not to disturb either Jack or Siân. "I'm lucky to have you. Even if it's just for a little while."

So what exactly does Donna remember? I love playing with you guys. *winks* I hope you don't mind.

BTW Siân and Ianto both mean 'God is gracious' or 'God's gift'. Kinda cool. And, as Jack is (in some cases) the pet form of John, which also means "God is gracious' or 'God's gift' it's all very profound. Of course Jack's real name isn't Jack but I like the symmetry anyway. Donna means 'lady' or more accurately 'lady of the house'. Read into that what you will.

More coming soon. We moving into the home stretch...