Author's Notes: I know it has been AGES since I last updated. Apologizes for that. I recently started college and I'm just through with my first round of assignments. Bit of a crazy time. Anyway, here is the next chapter, I hope it will be to your liking! Also, as a result of me joining Camp Nano this April, I managed to write a fair bit of this story already. Which allows me to establish an update schedule: from now on I'll post a new chapter every Saturday, sometimes in the evening/afternoon. (Until exam time comes around, hehe.) I WILL let you know if the schedule changes. Thank you for sticking around.

"Well, well, look who's awake."

The Doctor bit back a groan and tried to fight the urge to put his fist into the source of the sound with a violent crash. It was most probably coming from someone's face and he'd rather not antagonize his captors any more than he needed to. He moved his hands very carefully and asserted that he was still tied down. Not with chains this time, but with handcuffs? No telling without opening his eyes.

When he tried to move his legs, a loud moan escaped despite his best efforts as pain ricocheted through his body. Something was obviously broken and not healing as fast as it should.

"Now, now. Where's the rush? I'd rather think you're in no shape to try and get up just yet, my dear fella. Perhaps if you could open your eyes?"

The Doctor disliked the speaker instantly. His voice was dripping from condescension and hid well-restrained violence, but it was bubbling under the surface. It belonged to a shallow, greedy and sudden man; the Doctor decided and sighed inwardly. He had to hold his temper, at least until he found out where Rose was. It wouldn't do to get himself electrocuted into oblivion again before he made sure his companion was safe.

Opening his eyes slowly, he clutched at the rails on his bed, trying to keep himself from emptying the contents of his stomach in a rather ungraceful manner onto his jumper. The dizziness rocked him to his core and his first impulse was to squeeze his eyes shut again, but he resisted. He needed to clear his head as soon as possible and asses his surroundings. This proved more difficult than he first thought as he was faced once again with blinding white light.

"Could you turn that bloody thing off?!"

So much for keeping his temper in check.

The man on his right - the Doctor finally managed to sort out his sense of direction - chuckled indulgently and the Doctor heard a click of a switch. He blinked several times and gulped down cold air in big gasps. His head was pounding fiercely and he wasn't sure he could hold his tongue if the man continued smiling like a well-fed toddler. Counting to ten very slowly, he exhaled, clenched, then unclenched his fists and moved his legs as subtly as possible. He hissed as pain shot through the right one and the pounding in his head doubled.

"What did you do to me?" he asked thickly.

That chuckle again and he strained against his handcuffs with all his might.

"Oh don't worry, my friend. We just made sure that you wouldn't… cause any difficulties." He pursed his lips for a moment, as if deep in thought, then picked up a teacup and drank a few loud gulps. He seemed to have miscalculated the temperature of his beverage however, as he jumped slightly and grimaced.

The Doctor smirked and relaxed a bit. The other man's fussing gave him enough time to look around. He was in a hospital bed - and it was an imperial one, if the heavily embroidered, golden bed covers were anything to go by. The capital then, Charhelm.

He couldn't say he was particularly happy about the development. He'd been to Yolg'izlik a number of times before, but he always avoided the Crystal City on his previous visits. Its reputation was enough to make the Doctor give it a wide berth, not wanting to be swept up in the messy politics of the Council. He knew the system, knew it all too well. From what he gathered, it was rather similar to the one they used on Gallifrey.

Looking at the man beside his bed, the Doctor concluded that he must be a Council member. Maybe even a top dog in the High Council. His attire was certainly fitting. Rich red robes over a deep blue vest. A gold cravat glinted majestically at his neck in the weak sunlight filtering through the windows and his black boots were polished until they shone almost equally bright. The Doctor resisted the urge to roll his eyes and thought that on a better man the garments might have even looked impressive. He had an uneasy feeling about the ceremonial robes, but couldn't concentrate long enough to catch his own train of thought. The man was moving.

He stood up in a somewhat jagged motion and put his hands on his enormous belly. He looked quite unattractive with that gloating smirk.

"I am Otto IV. I am a proud member of the High Council of Yolg'izlik and managing director of the Interplanetary Interactive Association. We have found you, and your companions to be trespassing on sacred land at the time of our annual holiday."

The Doctor shook his head and replied, "You don't bloody well know what you're talkin' about! The Order of the Red Roses was dispersed three thousand years ago. All you've got is fringe movements trying to penetrate the system; you don't have sacred grounds anymore. At least not as far as the high and mighty are concerned in the Council."

The man lowered his gaze slowly to the Doctor's feet and swept his gaze over the leather jacket lying beside them.

"You seem to know an awful lot about our home for someone who's not from around here. Did the Intergalactic Travel send you? Hm? They're quite determined to advertise their contracts with the most obnoxious farces in the history of the Seven Systems."

"No."

They stared at each other for a solid minute after the Doctor's one word reply. It was the other man who broke the silence.

"Are you an ally of the Revolutionists? You do know we've got laws to prevent an uprising. In any way we deem appropriate." His shark-like smile sent a cold ball of dread to the Doctor's stomach and he narrowed his eyes at Otto. He couldn't ask about Rose just yet, if the Council didn't know she was here he couldn't give it away.

"What revolution would that be?"
"None so far. And let's hope it stays that way, eh?" The other man leaned in close, leaving mere inches between his face and the Doctor's. The Doctor could smell his sour breath and see his bloodshot eyes blocking out the sun from his view. His stomach turned, but he stared back without flinching. When Otto realized his intimidation strategy wasn't working, he took a step back and wheezed slightly from the exertion of such concentrated movements.

The Doctor didn't say a word for the next ten minutes as they studied each other. Otto didn't seem to know what to do with him. He was either very bad at interrogating people (which seemed likely to the Doctor - he seemed like the man to leave the dirty work to others), or he realized by now that interrogation wouldn't work on the Doctor. Not like this.

"What do you want with me?" the Doctor asked finally, tired of waiting.

Otto stopped his pacing abruptly, then turned very slowly towards the Doctor.

"What to do with you. That is the question, isn't it?" He walked back towards his seat and glanced at it with something akin to longing, but didn't sit down. Instead he picked up a strange looking wooden staff with a glowing blue orb sitting at the top of the handle. He leaned on it heavily and took a few steps towards the Doctor's bed.

"I think we shall leave you here for a while longer. See if it makes you any more cooperative. If not… Well." That smile again. A chill ran down the Doctor's spine at the thought of this man getting near to Rose and he hoped to whatever deity they worshiped here that Otto was unaware of her whereabouts. It was likely he already knew about her existence, but if she escaped unscathed then all the Doctor's suffering would be worth it.

"In that case, I'm afraid we'll have to resort to our more ingenious methods of making people talk. Good night, Stranger."

With that he put his hand on the blue orb and murmured a few words, then promptly disappeared. The Doctor shook his head. Why on earth would the people of Yolg'izlik want to disguise a teleport as witchcraft? He had a lot to find out about this planet and its inhabitants. Especially the Council. No matter how hard he tried staying away from them in the past, it didn't seem to be working now. Ignorance is a curse, didn't he always think that? The Doctor had to concede that his childish refusal to enter Charhelm in the past had finally caught up with him and decided to teach him a lesson.

If he could only get free he could start investigating properly. It was easier said than done, unfortunately. He looked at his leather jacket longingly and thought about the sonic. They probably took it. Still, it was worth a try. He looked around for a nurse and was ready to call out, when the window behind him shattered with a loud crash.

Rose was silent. She could hear Jack pacing back and forth in the room and wanted to tell him to stop it because it was making her dizzy. She didn't though. She was too worried, her head too full of thoughts to think clearly. She just wanted to curl up and cry. Funny how much losing her vision - even if it was only temporary - affected her. She could feel her throat tightening, the familiar burn of tears behind her eyelids and she gulped loudly.

Jack stopped.

She must have looked awfully like she was going to burst out in tears at any moment because the next thing she knew, her head was pressed to his chest and he was rocking her back and forth, kissing her hair softly and murmuring soothing words she couldn't make out.

"I'm sorry," she whispered and tried very hard not to cry.

"It's alright, Rosie. Let's have a good cry. I'm feeling like I might need one too." His voice sounded only half-joking and Rose burst into laughter. Which brought on the tears too.

After a half an hour of alternative crying and laughing - and sometimes doing both at the same time - Rose sighed and got up from the couch carefully.

"Okay. We need to stop moping. You need to stop me from moping!" She jabbed a finger in the general direction of the couch, missing Jack by half a mile, but he didn't tell her. He winced as his friend hit her foot in the table leg and got up himself, taking her arm gently.

"I'm the one who comforts you, Rosie, remember? The Doc is the one who comes with an eye roll and a slap on the back and gets you on another adventure before you can cry your eyes out."

Rose could imagine his half-smile as he said that and she shook her head.

"Yeah, I guess. He can be comforting too when he wants to be, you know."

Jack was silent for a moment, before he replied very quietly, "I know."

Rose's head whipped up and she tried to look at Jack before remembering she still couldn't open her eyes. She could sense his gaze on her face. Wanted to ask how he knew too, but something stopped her. It just felt wrong talking about the Doctor when he wasn't there. Or rather it felt wrong to talk about something so intimate that he probably wouldn't share, would he be there.

"Right. How do we get out of here? Now that the emperor is gone, we need to make a plan." Her voice sounded raw from crying and she suddenly felt too tired to move. Trying to shake it off, she moved towards the left, Jack guiding her towards the window. She only realized she was standing in front of it when her hands touched the cool glass.

"The only problem is that we can't get out of here. Windows still can't be opened, door still locked. We don't know an awful lot about where we are except that it's apparently called the Emerald Palace, and that it houses the High Council, whatever that is on this planet. So it must be a big place, and from the arrogance of that Otto fellow, I think it's very well guarded. Or shall I say, we are very well guarded," Jack stated glumly.

Rose pressed her forehead against the window and groaned in frustration.

"If we can't get out, how are we going to find the Doctor? There must be something we can do!"

Jack put his hands on her shoulder and sighed. "You're not gonna like this, but…"

"But?"

"Rose, we can't go anywhere. We have to wait for the Doctor to come to us. At least until your eyesight returns, we can't attempt and escape. Even if we did manage to get out, how are we going to get anywhere?"

Rose stayed silent and turned away from his embrace, feeling the frustration in her stomach building up to a low burn that ate away at her core. She couldn't just stay put and wait. She simply couldn't. Not with having no idea where the Doctor was or if he was even alright.

"I know it's frustrating sweetheart, but we can't. You're right, we need plan, but I'm gonna need you for it."
"You never needed anyone while you were a freelancer."

Jack laughed bitterly, a sound Rose wasn't in any way used to, and hugged her tight.

"Oh Rose, I didn't have anyone. There's a difference."

She could feel his gaze on her face once more and she attempted a smile. It wasn't as bright as she'd have liked it to be, but under the circumstances it was all she could manage.

Jack seemed to appreciate it though as he gave her a quick kiss on the corner of her mouth and squeezed her hand before walking away from the window.

"Otto's little trip wasn't entirely useless though. I did gather a little bit of information that might be useful later."

"Yeah? And what might that be?" Rose took a few tentative steps and sat down when she bumped into the edge of the couch.

"Listen…" Jack leaned in and pretend whispered, making Rose giggle.

Author's Notes: If you like this story, could you please take a moment to leave a review or follow/fav my story? If you do both you're an absolute star and contribute a lot to me being able to write the following chapters, knowing that someone cares about my story! Thank you.