AN: Hey! Sorry this has taken so long, still minor writers issues- it's miserable, but I'm getting over it. Anyway, I'll stop whining now. Right, glad you all seem to still be enjoying the story, here's the next chapter!

This chap's quote:

"Love life and life will love you back. Love people and they will love you back."

The Doc and Amy, finally sharing some alone time- and who should turn up but a certain Cap'n Jack Harkness...

Enjoy!

Captain Jack flashed the couple a charming smile, checking out the gorgeous slender redhead, and the bloke- who wasn't too bad either.

"Cap'n Jack Harkness, it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

He took the redhead's hand and kissed it, bowing his head. When he came back up he flashed a wink at the brunette she was leaning against, who was watching him with a measure of exasperated, mischievous disapproval with his brilliant grey-green eyes.

"Jack. Stop it."

Jack blinked. He wasn't used to that. He grinned and raised his hands in the air, "What? I'm just saying-"

He broke off as realization crashed over him. He stared at the brunette more closely- the odd clothes (the bow tie), the way his features were young but his eyes were old, the messy brown hair, the way he held his tea just so…

"D-Doctor?"

The Doctor shrugged, and the redhead sat up so he could stand up. He walked stiffly, and Jack could see some pretty high tech bandages from Heran 9 wrapped around his chest peeking through his collar.

"Hello Jack."

Jack shook his head- staring at the stranger in the TARDIS, saying he was the Doctor- the Doctor, the man he….loved.

"You- you…I don't…what happened?"

The Doctor titled his head to the side, putting his hands in his pockets, standing about a foot away from the Captain in the doorway. The redheaded girl watched the exchange, her eyes bright with interest.

"I regenerated Jack. You know I can- I've done it before."

Jack nodded. "Yeah- yeah I know, I remember. What happened this time? How do I know it's you?"

The Doctor raised an eyebrow. "Last time I saw you you were in an intergalactic bar- Torchwood had fallen, you were drinking away everything. An ex crew member of the Titanic sat next to you- his name was Alonso. I told you."

Jack grinned remembering, and then his eyes widened as he started to take it in- this was him, really, this was the Doctor.

"I was dying, Jack. I just wanted to say goodbye. And now I'm wondering- how on Earth did you find us, and why?"

Jack grinned, recovering himself. He nodded to the gorgeous redhead (how many times was he going to mentally refer to her like that?) who looked like she could be a model. His eyes lingered on her long, slender legs…

"Jack!"

The Doctor's disapproving snap brought Jack out of it, to look up into the girl's feisty hazel eyes and see that she was smirking.

"He's just like you said Doctor- and there was me thinking you were exaggerating for effect." Her voice was amused, with a hint of a Scottish accent.

Jack's grin widened, "Don't believe a word he says Miss….?"

The girl grinned. "I'm Amy. Amy Pond."

Jack raised his eyebrows, "nice name, Pond."

The Doctor laughed and Amy punched him lightly on the shoulder, scowling. "Ugh, even he calls me that. What is it with you time traveling blokes?"

Jack watched the way Amy leant into the Doctor- the way he let his arm fall casually around her shoulders, and raised an eyebrow at the Time Lord.

His eyes said, I'll explain later. Jack nodded.

"Actually Doctor- there was a reason I chased you God knows how long BC into the Himalayas. It's Donna- I think she's in trouble, and she needs your help."

X

The Doctor was in the console room and typing in co-ordinates without a word, his face set and determined as he called to Jack over the sound of the TARDIS taking off. "What sort of trouble? How do you know?"

Jack sprinted round the console and tore the Doctor away from the controls by wrapping his arms round his waist. Amy used the zigzag plotter to keep the TARDIS stable.

Jack sat the Doctor down, though the Time Lord stared back defiantly as Amy walked round the console, hands on hips.

"You can't go anywhere yet Doctor, you're still injured by the look of things." Jack said fiercely, staring the Doctor down.

Amy folded her arms, and decided she liked Captain Harkness.

The Doctor frowned at Jack. "Donna is in danger. She needs my help- you said so yourself- there's no time to lose!"

Jack rolled his eyes. "Doctor- you're in a Time Machine, you can turn up whenever you need to- but if you turn up injured, it's not going to help, and not knowing what's going on isn't exactly a good thing either. Is it?"

The Doctor looked to Amy for support, but she just grinned, and her eyes flashed him an 'actually I agree with Jack' look.

The Doctor sighed, defeated, then winced as the air rushed out of his lungs too fast and his ribs were jerked a little.

Jack watched with narrowed eyes. "I think it's about time you told me that story Doctor, and then I'll tell you mine."

Jack laughed as the Doctor finished and looked at Amy with growing admiration. "D'you know what Amy? I think you're brilliant!" He chuckled to himself. "Perfume bottle."

Then the Doctor leant forwards, and Jack's attention returned to the Time Lord.

"Now Jack- what's happened to Donna?"

Jack sighed, running a hand through his hair. "I don't know exactly. A few weeks back I went to Cardiff. You know- just to…well, anyway. I was standing on the spot where the rift was when some bloke comes up and gives me a letter from Donna Temple-Noble, explaining he'd been waiting around for days in this spot, as he'd been told, looking for someone who matched my description."

The Doctor raised his eyebrows, and Amy leant forwards, listening intently.

"Well, I opened the letter and inside it said, 'Come to our Garden Party, May 4th, Sean and Donna Temple-Noble'. Well that wasn't all that strange- but then underneath, scribbled, like it had been written in a rush by someone who didn't know how to write-' beware of the roses, find the Doctor. Help me.' "

The Doctor frowned. And Jack shrugged. "It was weird- but, it felt so urgent, and I didn't have anything better to do. I checked a few records for any recent anomalies, and picked up on a story about giant bats seen by monks in the Tabo Monastery." The Captain grinned. "Went back around the same time, and Lo and behold, I find a little blue box."

The Doctor smiled a bit, and Jack frowned. "But Doctor- what…I mean, I don't get it- who do you think wrote that? Donna was a temp if memory serves- I somehow doubt messy handwriting fits the job description, and she became half Time lord, right?"

Amy's face twisted in sympathy as the Doctor leaned back, closing his eyes in tired pain.

"No Jack. Donna was half Time Lord, but it was too much- burning her up, so I had to erase her memories. She can't remember me, or she'll die."

Jack's frown deepened. "Then how…?"

The Doctor smiled a little, though his eyes were still sad. "The Doctor-Donna isn't gone Jack. She's still there, fighting for it. That's why the writing is so scribbled though- Donna would barely have been aware she was doing it. But it means this is big, and important."

The Doctor took a deep breath and stood up, walking over to the console, taking off the zigzag plotter and grinning at Amy.

"Well remembered."

Amy grinned and Jack wondered what exactly the nature of their relationship was.

He didn't have a chance to ask though, as the Doctor pulled a lever and launched the brand new TARDIS forwards through time and space.

X

In her mansion, a few miles outside London, Donna Temple-Noble sat, drinking a cup of tea, quietly looking out over her expansive gardens. At the end of the lawn were a crowd of Victorian rose bushes, recently planted by the New Gardeners.

She stared at the roses- at the way they seemed to glow and move of their own accord. It was almost as if she could hear them whispering to her, their voices carried by the wind… Donna shivered and shook herself.

One of the New Gardeners walked past the veranda, pausing to stare at her.

Donna tried a smile. "Morning." She said, cheerily.

The middle aged woman in dark forest green overalls just stared at the other woman for a moment with opaque grey eyes. Then she nodded and walked away.

Donna frowned and took another sip of tea. "What's with her?"

She sat there-she wasn't sure why. It was like she was waiting for something. At the back of her mind, she could feel strange, hidden memories starting to come to the front of her mind. They had…before, but they'd burnt then. Now the pain was decreasing each day, and she could hear a voice, her own voice, whispering to her from the back of her thoughts.

Watch the roses, Donna! Beware of the roses!

Donna shook her head, thinking about going inside and getting some of her medication- the medicine she'd been given from the Doctor after telling Sean about this voice and her strange memories.

For a reason unknown to her, she snorted with contempt, "Medication."

Donna blinked, shocked, and put down her tea, getting up to go inside-to take some of those tablets, feeling so confused.

There was a scream from the bottom of the garden, where the roses were- and then one of the gardeners- the old ones who'd been there before the New ones with their roses- staggered away from the bushes.

The side of his face was severely burnt, and he made it halfway down the garden, choking, before he collapsed onto the lawn.

Horrified, Donna dropped her tea on the balcony and the expensive china shattered. She ignored it as she went to run to the man gasping for air on the grass.

Suddenly a group of the New Gardeners surrounded him. As Donna began to step down from the veranda, the woman who'd stared at her before held out a hand to stop her. Her voice was a bizarre monotone- at odds with her soft face.

"Please ma'am. We will call the ambulance. You do not want to see."

Donna frowned. "Well thanks very much and all that jazz but that man is dying over there- he needs help!"

Donna went to push past, but the woman met her eyes and just stared into them- her strange grey irises glowing silver.

"You do not want to see." She repeated, in the same strange monotone.

Donna felt something stir in the back of her head- strong and fierce, but then it settled again, and she felt herself stepping back onto the veranda, turning around.

"Yeah, you're- you're right. Thanks."

She stared at the huddle of gardeners, obscuring the other man's body from view. The she went inside, to get her medication, putting a hand to her head.

But those words, her words from earlier, whispered in the back of her mind, Beware of the Roses!

Behind her, the bushes shook in the breeze, and Donna felt a shiver run down her back- not realizing all of the New Gardeners had turned to watch her go, with identical grey eyes.

Ooooh, yes the capitalization is deliberate. What's with the roses? What's with the 'New Gardeners'? What's up with Donna?

And on a slightly more gossip magazine side note, how is Jack going to react when he discovers the full extent of Amy and the Doctor's...relationship?

Please keep reading and reviewing, I really appreciate it, and hope you're enjoying the story.

Thanks for dropping by!

Kat