Ianto lunged at Rose as she was dragged past and was just in time to grab hold of her ankle. He would have been pulled right along with her, but for Jack who was holding onto his other hand in a vice-like grip. As it was, they made for a precarious and somewhat ridiculous sight – Rose and Ianto both literally hanging in mid-air and anchored only by the sheer strength of a wounded companion.
"Ianto!" Rose screamed as the force pulling on her grew in strength, threatening to rip her from Ianto's grasp. He strained to pull her back towards him, and risked loosening his grip just long enough to be able to wrap his arm fully around her calf, giving himself a more secure hold. He felt as though both of his arms were being pulled out of their sockets, but he struggled to hold on all the same.
"Jack!" Ianto yelled. "Jack, hold on! Don't let go!"
There was no verbal response. He twisted his head a little to look in the midst of the chaos, and was stunned by the calm determination on the other man's face. Jack's grip on his wrist was both bruising and reassuring in its crushing strength, and he knew in that moment that Jack was never going to let go. It was up to him, then, not to let go of Rose.
Rose was screaming, and he couldn't suppress a scream of his own as pieces of debris, both large and small, lifted off the ground and flew past them, threatening to slam into them and knock Rose out of his grasp. All the same, though, in the midst of it all, he couldn't help but notice that not everything was affected. Only Rose, and only certain unsecured pieces of equipment were being swept up.
It was a pointless realisation, though, and soon fled his mind as he felt Rose slip in his hold.
"Ianto!" she screamed again, and he tightened his hold as much as he could. His arm ached horribly, and the very muscles burned with exertion. Once this was over, he knew his arm would be next to useless, but until then he struggled desperately to hold on.
And then, as suddenly as it started, it was over. One moment both he and Rose had been in mid-air, anchored only by Jack's strength; the next, Ianto found himself on the floor and lying on top of Rose in what could have been an extremely embarrassing position for the both of them, had they not been equally dazed.
"Are you okay?" Ianto asked as he climbed off her awkwardly, trying to avoid putting his hands anywhere that might earn him a Tyler slap. Rose sat up slowly, and gingerly rubbed at her ankle and calf before getting unsteadily to her feet.
"Yeah, I think so. Although, not so sure about this…"
He watched as she pulled her mobile phone from her pocket. It was broken, smashed when their collective weight fell on it.
"Damn. I'll have to get the Doctor to fix it, or Mum'll go spare when she can't call me…"
Rose trailed off abruptly as she realised what she'd said, and her breath hitched slightly in her chest as the full weight of comprehension set in. Ianto badly wanted to offer her some sort of comfort, but no words came to mind. Instead, he settled for taking her hand and squeezing it gently to reassure her that she wasn't alone. She managed to favour him with a weak smile and forced laughter.
"Hey, it's a good excuse to get a new one, right? Think of all the fancy ones I'll get to choose from…"
Ianto smiled sympathetically, and then turned his attention to Jack.
"What about you, Jack? Are you okay?"
It was fairly obvious that he wasn't. Purely by the look of him, Ianto guessed that the energy that Jack had expended in keeping both him and Rose from being swept away was enormous, and it was rapidly taking its toll. His face was the colour of ash, his eyes were dulled with exhaustion, and the only sounds that escaped his lips were soft whimpers and sobs of pain.
"No," Ianto murmured grimly. "You're not okay. Rose, we need to get him off this bloody table, and out of this place."
"The Doctor'll head for the TARDIS, if he's sorted everything," she mused. "I'll go and meet him, and bring him here."
Ianto looked from Jack to Rose with reluctance. He was hesitant to agree, if only because he simply didn't trust the Doctor not to bundle Rose into the TARDIS, and leave without them. On the other hand, though, not allowing Rose to go would been a greater delay, and he wanted Jack free as soon as possible.
"Go," he told her softly. "But please, bring him here. Don't let him leave without Jack again."
"I won't, I swear it," she promised, and hurried from the room. When he turned back to look at Jack once more, the other man's eyes were locked onto him , silently asking a question that he had no strength left to voice.
"I'm not leaving you," Ianto promised. "Not for any reason. I promise."
"Is that it?" Gage asked breathlessly as the Doctor examined the place where the breach had occurred. "Is it done?"
The entire experience had left Gage shaken, to say the least. Whilst it had quickly become clear that he himself hadn't been in immediate danger from the powerful suction of the void, there had been one frightening moment when the lever on the Doctor's side had failed to remain locked open. Gage had yelled at the Time Lord not to let go of the magnetic clamps, and had crossed the width of the corridor himself to lock it back into place. As he'd crossed, a Cyberman on its way to be dragged into the void had clipped him on the shoulder as it flew past. The force of the blow had knocked Gage clean off his feet and sent him rolling across the floor towards to the open breach.
For a moment, Gage had thought he was going to be lost to the void despite the Doctor's earlier reassurances, but the momentum that had sent him tumbling towards the opening had ended and he'd been able to scramble out of the way of everything else that was flying into the void. Struggling to ignore his injured shoulder, Gage had slotted the lever back into place, and then stood back to watch as the void dragged everything in, before the breach sealed itself for good.
Slowly, the Doctor now stepped back from the wall. He fancied that he could sense Jackie Tyler on the other side. He could almost taste her grief. Yes, she'd regained her husband, but she'd lost her daughter. He had sympathy for the woman, especially given the care that she'd shown towards Jack and his friend. At the same time, though, he could deny that he was overjoyed at the prospect that he wasn't going to lose Rose.
The Doctor turned to face Gage, and spoke solemnly.
"It's done. The breach is closed."
Gage swallowed nervously, paralysed by the power of the Time Lord's stare. For the first time, it occurred to him that he might just be putting himself directly into the line of fire for blame over the entire mess. He may have had nothing to do with the ghost shifts or the sphere, but he was still Torchwood. He wanted to run as far and as fast as he could, but somehow he gathered what scraps were left of his courage, and waited.
For several long seconds, the Doctor and Gage simply stared at each other. Then, abruptly, the Doctor's face split into a blinding grin.
"Well, then, let's go and find Rose, Jack and Mr Jones, shall we?"
And then they were off, with not a word or even so much as a look of recrimination. Gage could only follow, and hope that it wasn't just a case of the calm before the Time Lord storm.
"Do you run everywhere?" Gage dared to ask in between gasps for air as they made their way quickly back towards Bay Four, where Gage knew the Doctor's ship was located. The Doctor answered him with another impossibly wide grin.
"Running's the best part! C'mon, Mr Adams, shake a leg!"
Gage rolled his eyes and hurried to keep up. He couldn't help but wonder how the Doctor even knew where to go to find his ship, but instinct and a very real sense of self-preservation encouraged him to keep his mouth shut and not ask fool questions.
Entry to Secure Archives was completely open, and Gage winced at the sight of the blasted-open doors. He had a sudden, sickening suspicion that none of his colleagues had survived the invasion. There was no time to dwell, though, and it was all he could do to keep pace with the Doctor.
They were just approaching the doors to Bay Four when a voice shouted out to them.
"Doctor!"
The Doctor wheeled around, shock on his face.
"Rose?"
She flew into his arms, hugging him fiercely.
"Thank God you're all right," she said breathlessly. "Is it over? Did you get rid of them all?"
"They're gone," he confirmed. Carefully detaching himself from her grasp, he eyed her up and down with a critical gaze. "What happened? Why aren't you safe in the TARDIS?"
"Jack was captured by the Cybermen," she explained. When Gage uttered a gasp of shock, she favoured him with a quick smile. "It's okay. He wasn't converted. Ianto and I were trying to rescue him when you... Well, when you did whatever it was that you did. What did you do, anyway?"
"Never mind that," the Doctor growled. "I told you to get to the TARDIS!"
"And I told you, we were trying to help Jack. He's trapped on a conversion table, and we can't get him loose..."
The Doctor paced furiously, and ran his fingers through his hair, shaken at the realisation that he could have lost her after all.
"You should have left him, and gotten yourself to safety!"
Abruptly, Rose's face darkened.
"And what, just left him behind? Again? He was the only one left alive in that room, Doctor. Are you saying we should have just left him there, with a whole lot of dead bodies? Just like the last time? Well, sorry, it wasn't happening, and don't you dare tell me it's what I should've done."
"Rose..." the Doctor said in a strained voice, but she wasn't done.
"My mum might not be here now, but don't you think you're safe from getting slapped."
For a moment, the look on the Doctor's face was comical, and Gage had to bite his lips to keep from laughing. Then, the Time Lord shook his head.
"That isn't what I meant, and you know it. Listen, Rose, I had to open the breach just one last time, all the way. Because the Cybermen had crossed the void, and the Daleks had lived in it, they were all dragged in. Anything that crossed the void was at risk."
Rose's breath caught in her throat as she began to understand what he was trying to tell her.
"We crossed the void, when we went to that parallel world."
The Doctor nodded.
"We're both contaminated by void stuff. Anything and anyone that's crossed the void is the same. I wanted you inside the TARDIS because the moment I opened the breach, the void was going to drag in anything that's come into contact with it."
"Including you?"
"That's why I had the magnetic clamps," he assured her. "And why I wanted Mr Adams to help me. He's never crossed the void, and so he was perfectly safe."
Rose glanced at Gage, and for the first time noticed his injured shoulder.
"Doesn't look like he was perfectly safe from where I'm standing."
Gage shook his head.
"It's nothing. I just got clipped by one of those bloody cyber things when it flew past. I'm fine."
She didn't look entirely convinced, but decided not to dispute him.
"So, what about Jack and Ianto, then?" she asked the Doctor.
"They've never crossed the void, either. Didn't have an ounce of void stuff on either of them. They were safe, Rose. But you weren't."
Rose felt the colour bleed out of her cheeks a little as the full realisation of what he wasn't saying hit home.
"You're saying I could've been sucked into the void right along with the Daleks and the Cybermen?"
"Yes," the Doctor said softly. "That is exactly what I'm trying to say."
She smiled as weakly.
"Well, just as well for Jack and Ianto, then."
"Why? What do you mean?"
"Well, I nearly did get dragged out, Doctor, 'cept Ianto grabbed me by the leg and wouldn't let go, and Jack had him by the wrist and he wouldn't let go. They both saved me, Doctor. If it weren't for them, I guess I'd be in the void right now."
The Doctor was hard-pressed right then to single out any one particular emotion that he was experienced. Relief, gratitude, pride...
He took her hand and held it tightly, grateful all over again, and not just for his feisty young companion.
"C'mon. Let's go get Jack and Ianto."
Jack hadn't said a word since before the incident where Rose had almost been swept away from them, and Ianto was starting to worry. He seemed to be in and out of consciousness – increasingly more out than in – and his awareness when conscious was sketchy at best. Not that Ianto had any particularly deep-set concerns for Jack's physical wellbeing. Jack couldn't die, and Ianto knew well enough that he would heal fairly quickly once released from the conversion table.
No, Ianto's concerns lay primarily with Jack's state of mind and emotional wellbeing, both of which he suspected were deteriorating with every minute that Jack remained trapped. He hoped and prayed that Rose would return quickly with the Doctor, but a darker side of his mind whispered that was a fool. They weren't coming back, and he was an idiot for thinking that they would.
The Doctor had abandoned Jack once, he thought bitterly. What was there to stop him from doing it again? He was under illusions that Rose was in any way capable of influencing the Time Lord's decisions. After all, what influence could a teenager girl possibly have on an apparently ancient alien?
He dreaded what would happen if his fears became reality, and the Doctor left without them. He doubted any Torchwood survivors would be interested in them in this horrific aftermath, but it wasn't Torchwood that worried him. It likely would not be long before UNIT descended on the place to take control, and above all else, Ianto wanted to avoid letting Jack fall into their hands. If that were to happen, then they would be right back at square one.
On the other hand, Ianto couldn't get Jack free on his own, so what was he to do?
"Please hurry, Rose," he whispered. "Please hurry back."
The silence was oppressive. Even the faint moans and whimpers that had been coming from Jack had ceased, and Ianto found he desperately wanted to create some sort of noise to compensate. In an effort to distract himself, he took to examining the hand-shaped bruise that was already forming on his wrist. It ached a little, but he would never have complained about it. In truth, he was in awe of the strength that Jack had displayed, and he wondered it was indicative of Jack's natural strength, or whether it was simply down to adrenalin. Either way, Jack had saved both him and Rose.
He froze, hearing footsteps that gradually got louder. Ianto got slowly to his feet, hoping furiously that it was Rose and the Doctor, and not anyone else. His relief was palpable when Rose ran back into the room, with Gage and the Doctor close behind her.
"Sweet mother of God," Gage groaned, slapping a hand over his mouth and nose as the stench of decaying and cauterised flesh fully hit.
"Over here," Ianto called out hoarsely. He didn't dare step away from Jack, and risk upsetting him by breaking contact. The Doctor strode over, seemingly unaffected by the carnage around them, and eyed the table and its restraints critically.
"Shouldn't take too long to get him off there. Mr Adams, do you still have that lock-pick of yours?"
"What? Oh... Yes, sir, I have it right here."
Gage pulled the device out of his pocket and stepped forward to help the Time Lord. As he and the Doctor set to work releasing Jack, Rose nudged Ianto gently.
"See? Told you he wouldn't leave Jack behind again."
Ianto sighed softly.
"I know, but I'm not going to apologise for doubting him. He doesn't exactly have a brilliant track record with Jack."
"No, he doesn't," Rose agreed. "But he wants to try and make up for it. That's gotta count for something."
Ianto conceded that, and he appreciated that the Doctor had apparently not required any convincing to come back for Jack.
"Ianto!" Gage called out, and Ianto hurried over as Jack's arms and legs were freed.
"I need you both to hold him," the Doctor explained. "I'm going to need to cut through the wires, and it will probably hurt."
"You can't take them out?" Rose asked, eyeing the offending wires with a shudder.
"I can, but not here," the Doctor answered. "Back in the TARDIS, where it can be done quickly and painlessly. But we need to get him there first."
Trying to suppress his own worries, Ianto slid his arm across Jack's bare chest while soothing Jack's forehead and temples with his other hand. Jack's eyes flickered open and eventually focused on Ianto. They were bloodshot and wet with tears both shed and unshed.
"That's it," Ianto murmured. "Just watch me, and we'll have you off here in a moment. Be brave just a little longer."
Ianto's sharp ears caught a low buzzing sound, and a second later Jack howled in pain as the Doctor severed the wires that had been implanted into his body.
"Easy, love," Ianto said, raising the volume of his voice to try and be heard over Jack's distressed and pained cries. "Don't fight us, Jack, please!"
"Yan," Jack sobbed. Great, large tears welled in his eyes and spilled down his cheeks, but he ceased struggling all the same.
"That's it," Ianto murmured, kissing him tenderly on the forehead. "Try to stay calm, and we'll have you loose soon."
"That's quite impressive, Mr Jones," the Doctor remarked curiously as he set himself to cutting through the remaining wires. "If I didn't know any better, I'd think he loved you."
Ianto glanced at him darkly. He was see-sawing violently between being in awe of the Time Lord, and wanting to punch him in the face.
"You say that like you don't believe it's possible for him to love anyone."
"Well, considering his reputation," the Doctor started, only to falter at Ianto's glare.
"He's been trapped here for over a hundred years, sir. He has no reputation, as far as I'm concerned, and I'll ask you to kindly avoid tormenting him. He's had to put up with far too much of that, of late."
The Doctor stared at Ianto intently before finally nodding solemnly.
"You're quite right. I apologise, to you and to Jack. Speaking of whom, how about we get him on his feet?"
"Jack?" Gage asked gently as they helped Jack up into a sitting position on the conversion table. "We're going to help you to stand up now, okay? If you can't do it on your own, don't worry about it. Just lean on your own, don't worry about it. Just lean on me and Ianto, all right?"
"And here," the Doctor added, quickly slipping his coat over Jack's shoulders. At Ianto's raised eyebrow, he offered a slight shrug. "It's cold."
Ianto couldn't argue with that. Taking extreme care, he helped Jack to slip his arms into the sleeves, and then he and Gage carefully got Jack on his feet.
"That's it, just lean on us," Ianto murmured as Jack stumbled. "Like Gage said, we won't let you fall."
Jack looked around slowly. His breath was coming in short gasps, and Ianto was beginning to worry that he was heading towards a state of shock.
"Are we leaving?" Jack asked softly. Ianto nodded firmly.
"Yes, cariad. We are leaving."
"Never coming back?"
None of them could miss the hope in his voice. Gage rubbed his back soothingly.
"You'll never have to lay eyes on this place again. The Doctor's going to take you far away from here."
Jack looked to the Doctor, who smiled gently at his former companion.
"As far away as you want, Jack. You're safe, now."
The look on Jack's face was inscrutable as he looked at the Time Lord, but that look melted into one that was full of emotion when he returned his attention to Ianto.
"I want to leave," he admitted. "Please."
Ianto smiled.
"All right, then. Let's go. Easy, now. One step at a time, that's the way..."
The Doctor and Rose trailed behind as Ianto and Gage guided Jack from the room.
"He's not sure about me," the Doctor murmured. "Well, I suppose I can't blame him. Not the same face, after all."
"Plus, there's that whole left him behind on a dead satellite thing," Rose added with a deceptive amicability. The Doctor grimaced, and opted not to reply to that. He was all too aware that he had a long way to go to rebuild the bridges that he'd so thoroughly burned.
They halted just outside the room, and Ianto gently detached himself from Jack, who uttered a cry of protest. Leaning in, Ianto brushed a soft kiss over Jack's lips, quieting him.
"Hush, love. I'll be right back. There's just one thing I need to do. Stay with Gage. I promise I won't be long." Then, to Gage he said, "I need that lock-pick."
Gage handed it over without protest, and Ianto disappeared back into that hellish room.
"What's he up to?" the Doctor growled.
"I think I know," Rose murmured. "Just let him do what he has to do."
The Doctor looked over at Jack, and took in the sight of the young immortal clinging to Gage as though his life depended on it.
"He trusts Ianto, and he trusts you," the Doctor commented thoughtfully. Gage nodded. He made no effort to loosen Jack's hold on him, and indeed he didn't seem the least bit embarrassed by the fact that he had a near-naked man clinging to him with a death grip.
"Mainly Ianto, but yes. Me, too. I'm still not quite sure why, because I sure as hell don't deserve the trust he's put in me. God knows I treated him as badly as everyone else before Ianto took over looking after him. But thanks to Ianto, I had my eyes opened nice and wide. He did that for all of us, you know. Those of us who worked in Secure Archives, I mean. With the exception of just a few, Ianto managed to show all of us that Jack here was as human as the rest of us." A soft laugh escaped Gage's lips. "We called him Joe to start with, before Ianto and Jack escaped. No one knew what his name really was, so when Ianto started taking care of him, he called him Joe. He apparently didn't remember his name was Jack until after they escaped. We did this to him, you know. Torchwood. Turned him into this from... from whatever he used to be like."
"A hero," Rose said with quiet determination. "He was a hero."
Gage rubbed Jack's back soothingly.
"I can believe that." He looked to the Doctor anxiously. "You can help him, can't you? You can help him recover from what this place has done to him?"
The Doctor walked closer and reached up slowly towards Jack's temple. Jack uttered a soft whimper of fright and shied away from him, and the Doctor obligingly withdrew his hand.
"I hope so," he answered soberly. "But until we get him into the TARDIS, and I can assess the extent of the damage, I just don't know. There's every possibility that some memories can't be retrieved. A hundred years is a long time for a human to retain all their knowledge, and when you add trauma like this into the equation... I just can't guarantee anything."
"But you'll do what you can, right?" Rose pressed. The Doctor nodded again.
"Yes. I'll do everything I can, I swear it."
Gage sighed softly.
"That's all we can ask. I guess that first and foremost, we just want Jack to be safe."
"He couldn't be anywhere safer than the TARDIS," the Doctor assured him. Out of the corner of his eye, Gage caught sight of the look on Rose's face at that comment, but chose to keep quiet. Putting an end to further discussion, Ianto emerged from the room once more, this time with his clothes stained with blood that was not his own. He looked exhausted and stretched beyond his mental, physical and emotional capacities.
"I'm ready. Let's go."
It took them nearly twenty minutes to make their way back to Bay Four, and in that time they'd all heard the sounds of activity coming up from the lower levels – the sounds of a considerable number of people converging on the Torchwood Tower.
"It's UNIT," the Doctor said as they made their way as quickly as possible to the TARDIS. Ianto couldn't quite keep the panic from his expression.
"We can't let them get their hands on Jack. They'd treat him as badly as Torchwood. The Brigadier said as much..."
The Doctor raised an eyebrow quizzically.
"You've spoken to the Brigadier?"
"Just the once," Ianto confirmed. "Whilst we were at Sarah Jane's home. He warned me that the only reason UNIT did nothing about Jack was because they had no means to contain him."
The Doctor's expression darkened noticeably.
"I see." He came to a halt in front of the familiar blue doors of the TARDIS, and looked around at Jack. "Remember her, Jack?"
Jack's forehead creased as into a frown as he stared up at the ship. The Doctor smiled faintly as he recalled his first time meeting Jack.
"You complimented me on her panels, remember?"
Again, Jack didn't reply, and the look on his face told them all that he was in no way certain or trusting of the Doctor.
"It's a bloody police box," Ianto said bluntly, none too impressed.
"Chameleon circuit jammed," the Doctor answered with a slight shrug. "Long story. Anyway..."
"Here," Rose murmured with the slightest hint of impatience, and she shouldered the Doctor out of the way to open the door with her own key. "Go ahead."
Ianto and Gage glanced at each other, suddenly wary of the wisdom of venturing into a strange ship. Ultimately, though, they knew they had no choice, and their decision was made for them in the end when they heard the sounds of a UNIT squad entering Bay Four.
"Quickly," Gage muttered grimly, and they ushered Jack through the blue doors and into the TARDIS.
The Doctor ushered Rose through, and was about to follow when an authoritative voice spoke loudly behind him.
"Doctor!"
The Time Lord swung around, and was not entirely surprised to find himself face to face with aa fully armed squadron of UNIT soldiers. His gaze swept over them critically, and finally came to rest on the young man leading them.
"Lieutenant. What can I do for you?"
The lieutenant swallowed nervously, and when he spoke again it was with an uncertain tremor.
"I... I have to ask you to surrender the creature, sir."
It would have been particularly difficult to miss the threatening look that darkened the Doctor's face. He knew full well that the hapless young man was referring to Jack, but he had no intention of making it that easy for them.
"What creature would you be referring to, Lieutenant?"
"It was just taken into the TARDIS, sir. I... I have orders to take it into UNIT custody."
"Let me see if I understand you properly, Lieutenant. You have here an entire building that has been utterly devastated, rooms full of alien technology that anyone could walk in and scavenge, possibly numerous injured people who may need urgent medical assistance... but your first priority is to find and lock up an innocent man?"
The Doctor's voice grew louder and angrier as he spoke, and by the time he'd done speaking, the lieutenant looked for all the world like he was about to soil himself.
"Sir, it's a danger to everyone. UNIT can't allow it to go free."
"It has a name, Lieutenant," the Doctor snapped. "His name is Captain Jack Harkness. He's my companion, and I'm taking responsibility for him as of now. UNIT will not be taking him away just to lock him up all over again, or for any other reason. Am I making myself clear?"
The lieutenant looked like he wanted to be anywhere but there, but he resisted an almost overpowering urge to run.
"I'm sorry, Doctor, but I have my orders. We want the creature, and we'll use force if necessary."
The Doctor's expression very suddenly turned amicable, and he smiled brightly at the young man.
"Well, when you put it that way, I don't seem to have much of a choice, do I?"
Confusion and a hint of suspicion flickered across the lieutenant's face, but he shook his head in agreement.
"No, sir. You don't. Now, if you would kindly bring it out here?"
"Of course. I'll be right back."
And with that, he stepped into the TARDIS, and closed the doors behind him.
"They never learn," he remarked dryly as he bounded over to the central column. "Now, Rose, could you please show these gentlemen to the medical room? I'll just get us underway, and I'll join you shortly."
"But those UNIT soldiers..." Gage started to say. The Doctor grinned at him.
Don't worry. They can't get in. And we'll be away from here in just a minute. You're all safe now, I promise."
"C'mon," Rose murmured, urging them towards a doorway that was on the other side of the control room. "Med room is this way."
The Doctor watched them go before initiating dematerialisation.
"Easy does it, old girl," he murmured soothingly. "Let's try doing it smoothly for once. I think poor old Jack has been knocked about quite enough today, don't you think?"
He felt an answering hum in his mind, and smiled sadly. Unlike himself, she fully welcomed Jack back into her fold without hesitation, and her song – a poignant mixture of both joy and sorrow – made the Doctor want to weep.
They left Canary Wharf behind and entered smoothly into the Vortex without the usual jolts and shudders. Relieved to finally be away from the carnage that had taken place, he took a moment on his own to try and regroup. He was still standing there, lost in thought, when a hand on his shoulder startled him back to reality.
"Not really the best time to go zoning out, you know," Rose remarked quietly. He nodded.
"I know. I was just thinking."
"About what?"
"About how much work it's going to take to give Jack his life back. There's no quick fix to this, Rose. His mind is damaged, and it's going to take time to heal."
"Lucky you're a Time Lord, then, huh? 'Cause if there's one thing you've got plenty of, it's time."
The Doctor smiled sadly.
"I wish it were that simple."
"Oh, I know it's not. Just... try not to go all dark and dismal on us, all right? Now, are you coming? 'Cause Jack needs that medical care you promised him."
"I'll just stabilise us, and I'll be right there," he promised. She nodded and turned to go, but then paused in the doorway.
"He's gonna be all right, Doctor. We're gonna help him remember, and he's gonna be all right. You'll see."
Then she was gone, leaving him alone once more.
The Doctor waited until he could no longer hear her footsteps, and then slipped his hand into his jacket pocket and brought out the item he'd found on display in the warehouse earlier that day. Almost reverently, he turned the item over his hands, and ran his fingers over the supple leather. He hoped it would be possible to kickstart Jack's memories, using certain triggers, and the one he held in his hands promised to be possibly the best trigger of all. He dared not use it, though, until he felt Jack was mentally and emotionally ready to deal with what were potentially severely traumatic memories.
One step at a time he told himself.
Slipping the Vortex Manipulator back into the safe depths of his jacket pocket, the Doctor made one last check of the TARDIS' status before heading off to the med room to see to the wellbeing of his former companion.
to be continued...