AN: Sorry to leave you all on a cliffie, but I'm glad you liked it. The fact that Donna's brain didn't burn was a DELIBERATE mistake, it's part of the plot, so keep an eye out!
This chap's quote:
"You come to love not by finding the perfect person, but by seeing an imperfect person perfectly." -
Ok, so Donna started to remember and was about to explain why when all the lights went out and she dissapeared- leaving the Doctor panicked and Amy shaking after being entranced by glowing silver eyes...
"DOCTOR!"
Amy and the Doctor jumped, looking to the door that captain Jack had just burst through, cradling a severely burnt unconscious man in his arms.
The Doctor yelped, "Shaun!"
Quickly the Doctor swept the expensive plates and poisoned food off the table, letting it crash to the ground, and motioning for Jack to lie the man on the sizable oak table. Jack did so- and in the movement Amy noticed his hands and the rest of his arms were severely burnt too.
She frowned- "Jack, you're hurt too."
The Doctor glanced up at Jack's hands then looked back to Shaun, scanning him with his screwrdriver, then gently opening each eye and shining a light into it.
"Jack'll be fine", he said dismissively- pre-occupied with Donna's husband. Amy frowned and skirted round the Time Lord to the captain, taking his hands to look at the burns more closely.
They were already healing. Amy frowned and looked up into Jack's handsome face. "I thought you were human." She could hear the accusatory tone in her own voice.
Jack laughed. "I am-sort of. Basically I can't die, it's a really long story."
Amy mentally hit herself. "Yeah, of course- the Doctor told me. I didn't think…"
Jack raised an eyebrow, and the Doctor- from where he was still bent over Shaun, now gently examining the burns on the man's face and neck, looked up briefly to flash Amy a re-assuring smile.
"Like I said. Jack'll be fine."
Amy nodded, then really looked at the man the Doctor had called Shaun- lifeless and severely burnt on the table. Her eyes filled with concern, "What about him? Who is he? Will he be ok?"
The Doctor chuckled, but it was the same tense chuckle as before. "So many questions! His name is Shaun Temple-Noble, Donna's husband. As to whether he'll be ok- we can only hope."
The Doctor looked to Jack. "You got any bandages, antiseptic?" Then he turned to Amy.
"If you can, please get some vinegar, mustard and pomegranate. Shout if something happens."
Amy nodded and ran into the next room whilst Jack rifled through his pockets.
Whilst the girl was gone Jack put a syringe, a watch, a packet of chewing gum, a cinema ticket and a mobile onto the table. Finally he produced a squashed roll of off white bandages- and a half empty tube of antiseptic.
The Doctor winced, regarding the less than appropriate medical supplies, thinking longingly of the superior store in the TARDIS. But there was no time for that now- he needed to act quickly.
Hurriedly the Doctor squeezed antiseptic onto his hand and began rubbing it into Shaun's cheeks, the back of his skull- his neck, shoulders and chest- the areas most severely burnt.
Jack watched him whilst he worked, fidgeting- as if he wanted to say something. The Doctor finished on the burns on Shaun's cheeks and nose and the base of his skull, moving to his neck.
"If you want to say something- say it."
That brought Jack into action.
"You and Amy- what's going on with you?"
The Doctor raised an eyebrow at Shaun's unconscious face. "Is it any of your business?"
He heard a quick rush of air leave Jack's chest in slight shock at being responded to so abruptly, and sighed.
"I don't know Jack. I know she thinks she cares about me, but then she's young, and-" He shrugged, trying to fake nonchalance as he moved onto the scorched remnants of Shaun's cotton shirt- burnt through with an acidic substance.
"Anyway- what happened?"
Jack made a sound of surprise- unable to believe he'd forgotten. "Oh, ah, the TARDIS scans were showing some dodgy readings, I was going to check them out when I heard a commotion outside. I went out and there was this group of…gardeners dragging an unconscious Donna towards the rose bushes."
The Doctor nodded to himself, as if confirming a secretly held suspicion. He motioned for Jack to continue with one hand as he gingerly extricated material from one of the wounds in Shaun's chest.
"Well, obviously I went to help, and as I was running towards them when this guy turns up in his car. He gets out and starts shouting as they pull her into the rose bushes- there's something hidden there, the air shimmered and they were gone. Shaun went to dive in after them, into the bushes, but the roses started shaking- and then suddenly there was this bright multicolored powdery mist, or fog- whatever- it was gas. He started screaming and I pulled him back, though he kept fighting to get back to Donna."
Jack glanced at his arms, where the scars of his burns had long since faded. "It felt like fire… Doctor, what was it? Who are those people? What do they want with Donna?"
The Doctor straightened up as Amy came back in, hands full of what the Doctor had requested. He immediately unscrewed the mustard and began to spread it thickly over the antiseptic he'd already applied.
He spoke to Jack directly when he said, "I don't know. But it's something to do with Time Lords. Looks like this time we're the prey..."
X
Once Shaun was fully bandaged Amy led Jack to her and the Doctor's room whilst the Doctor set about examining the remnants of Donna's food for clues as to what she had been being given.
When Amy pushed opened the doors, Jack raised his eyebrows.
"One bed?"
Amy blushed heavily as Jack lay a heavily bandaged Shaun onto the white covers. "It was Donna's idea."
Jack grinned, "sure it was."
As Amy made to protest, he interrupted. "Hey, don't get me wrong- where I come from it's no bad thing to be having some, y'know, action."
He winked and Amy felt her mouth drop open.
"I have NOT been travelling with the Doctor for action as you call it. We haven't even, you know…."
She broke off and looked at the ground, biting her lip- wondering why the Doctor hadn't touched her like that yet. Wondering if it was something wrong with her.
Jack paused, noticing her silence, and came over, taking her shoulders. He smiled a little- they were all the same.
"Listen, Amy. Have you kissed him?"
Amy nodded, and Jack grinned.
"Has he kissed you?"
Amy nodded again, blushing a little and smiling. "All the time."
Jack's hands squeezed her skin. "Then you're fine- the last girl he loved, Rose-I think she kissed him once? And she was being possessed by the last human from old Earth- so I wouldn't worry about it. In fact, I think he cares about you, a lot."
When Amy looked up, her eyes full of tears, Jack raised his eyebrows, the grin falling off his face.
"Did I say something wrong?"
Amy smiled, half laughing through her tears. "No. No. It's just." She paused, swallowing a sob. "I know he cares about me-I know he loves me- I'm not stupid. But-"
She paused, and Jack didn't say a word, letting her first lot sink in- letting the idea of the Doctor telling someone he was in love with them sink in.
"But I don't understand why he won't change me so I can live as long as he can. Slow my body clock- whatever. Doesn't he understand that every moment I'm with him I have to remember I'm going to leave him alone? Doesn't he realize how- how painful that is?"
Amy collapsed into sobs against Jack's chest, and he held her there, unsure what to do next. Normally right now he'd give her some 'comfort love', but considering what she'd said about the Doctor- he couldn't.
So he was left in a position he wasn't used to- advisor. Jack chewed his lip and thought about everything he knew about the Doctor, then looked down at Amy, holding her at arms length so he could meet her gaze.
"Amy- you need to be strong for him, alright?"
Amy frowned in confusion.
"Listen- you can't hold this against him. Because- because I think in a way he's saving himself. " Amy went to interrupt but Jack continued.
"Think about it. He's used to being the last one- the survivor, it'll break his heart but he'll get through. And he needs these times to help him with it. But he can't be the first one to go- after everything he's done, do you honestly think he could let himself get into trouble- die, knowing he's changed you, that you can never return to normality? And at the same time- he can't stop doing this, fighting for what he thinks is right- otherwise he doesn't know why to keep living."
Jack took a deep breath- looking deep into the girl's gorgeous gold and hazel eyes and wishing the Doctor hadn't got here first.
Then he finished, "You have to deal with this- to save him from any more suffering."
Amy looked at him, curiously, lips slightly parted in surprise, then nodded, rubbing away her tears with the back of her hand like a child.
"You know Captain Jack-you're everything he said you were, and more."
Jack put on fake excitement. "He talked about me?"
Amy laughed. "All the time."
Jack laughed with her as they walked out of the room- leaving Shaun safe and asleep on the bed. Suddenly the Doctor's voice cut into their moment of light heartedness.
"AMY! JACK!"
Amy looked at Jack and they both burst into a run, plunged once more into nightmarish reality- but loving the thrill of the chase.
Ah, I think they'll get along just fine- and the Doc's improvised medicine...haha inspired by the lodger ep.
So- why's the Doctor shouting for them? Will Shaun be ok? Where have the new gardeners taken Donna? And why are they hunting for Time Lords?
I haven't really got my laptop back as such, but I'll try and update ASAP, I really appreciate all your reviews- please do keep 'em coming!
Kat