Notes: After being all 'kick ass', Rose ends up in trouble as usual but is still a Torchwood agent. John makes an unusual call.

Chapter 4

Rose could hear a voice, echoing and distant in the darkness, cooing and encouraging someone.

There was a wave of panic as she realised that she was paralysed, totally and completely, she couldn't even open her eyes. 'Oh God, that bullet hit my spine!' she thought. The implications of that started to overwhelm her. She would never be able to hold EJ again, never be able to be intimate with John.

She tried to calm down and take stock of her situation. She could hear, she could see the red hue of light through her eyelids and she could feel. 'Wait a minute. If I can feel, the nerves in my spine must be okay', she reasoned.

She could feel air currents on her skin, that meant she was naked, and she could feel EJ suckling on her breast! How was that possible? She then realised that the voice she could hear was a woman who must be holding her son on her breast.

There was a regular 'hiss' and 'puff' sound that seemed to be in rhythm with her breathing and she became aware of a tube in her throat. That was strange, because she wasn't gagging on it, her throat just accepted it.

Her panic turned to fear, she was utterly helpless and at the mercy of anyone who wanted to take advantage of her. She felt EJ being taken off her nipple. Where was he? She wanted him back; he was her only point of reference in this void.

"There's a good boy," a woman cooed. Rose could hear his back being gently patted and rubbed until he let out a burp. She heard him being placed in a cot or some other receptacle by the side of her, and then the woman covered her with a soft, silky fabric which she assumed was a sheet.

There was a gentle knocking sound and the woman's footsteps moving away from her. A door opening and the voice of an elderly male enquiring if it was alright to enter.

"Yes your eminence, the Holy Mother has finished feeding His Holiness and is awake," the woman said.

'Holy Mother? His Holiness? What the hell is going on?' Rose thought to herself. 'Who do they think I am?' She assumed it was a case of mistaken identity, but being paralysed, she couldn't tell anyone that they'd got the wrong person.

She heard footsteps and the 'clack' of a stick move towards her, and a creaking 'oof' as someone elderly sat in a chair nearby, followed by a whispered, muttered incantation or prayer in a foreign tongue.

"Holy Mother, your physician tells me that you are able to hear me. I beg your forgiveness for incapacitating you in such a manner. However, we greatly underestimated your abilities and ferocity when it came to protecting the Kaliq-Farrash from a perceived threat."

The voice was elderly with a slight lisp and an accent that Rose couldn't place.

"It was felt prudent that to prevent you from accidentally injuring your staff in your transition period, we would immobilise you until you were safely on your ship and on your way home. Again I ask your forgiveness," the elderly voice said.

She heard the man rise from the chair. "Your handmaiden will tend to your needs and those of your son. I look forward to speaking to you very soon." His footsteps and the 'clack' of his stick moved away and she heard the opening and closing of a door.

'Okay agent Smith, let's take stock of the situation', she thought. Some of her fear had abated since she had been covered with a sheet and told that there was no threat to her.

There was still anxiety about being paralysed and being taken away from her family, but freaking out wasn't going to help. She needed to keep a clear head and consider her options when she was given back control of her body.

She focussed on her hearing, in between the 'hiss' and 'puff' of the ventilator that was keeping her alive (which gave her another rush of panic), she could hear the sound of engines running through the room. She was on an airship, which was confirmed by the occasional slight movements caused by air turbulence.

'So, I'm being taken to another ship to be taken 'home'. Okay, 1. Why not do the whole journey in this ship? And 2. Where do they consider 'home' to be?' She mulled over these questions and considered the answers.

The answers she came up with were not good. They obviously needed a ship that could go somewhere an airship couldn't, which meant home was probably somewhere off world. With them not waking her up until they were safely on their way, she could be light-years away before she could even consider taking action.

Rose recalled her hostage negotiation training at Torchwood; she had been particularly good at it after all her travelling with the Doctor where she needed to assess situations quickly.

'1. Attempt to thwart the abduction', she'd tried to but got shot. She thought about being shot!

She couldn't feel any pain in her shoulder. She had never been shot before, but she imagined it would hurt like hell. Maybe they had pumped her full of painkillers, but wouldn't the old man have apologised for shooting her?

And the gun she had taken off her attacker, it didn't have the 'kick' of a normal handgun. She hadn't had time to think about it when she was using it, but now... what if it was a tranq gun, firing drugged darts?

'Jack's alive!' she thought with a wave of relief. Okay, back to the hostage training. 'Focus Smith', she admonished herself.

'2. Regain your composure'. Under the current circumstances, she reckoned she wasn't doing too bad.

'3. Be observant.' If she could have laughed, she would have. 'Give me a break', she thought, although she knew there was a woman looking after her, there was an old man in charge and they were on an airship. 'Not bad for a start', she thought.

'4. Try to ascertain why you have been abducted'. That was a tricky one; they seemed to think she was the holy mother of a religious leader. She would need to talk to them about their mistake.

'5. Keep a survival attitude'. Well that was easy, you didn't travel with the Doctor without developing a survival attitude. You would soon be dropped off home if you couldn't hack it with him.

The rest of the training involved interacting with the abductors, and she couldn't do that while she was paralysed, so she needed to keep her mind active and alert.

Then she felt it! That warm, toe curling, smile inducing feeling she got when she made love to her husband. The red hue from light passing through her eyelids turned a golden white colour.

The golden light dimmed and she was standing on an all too familiar beach, Dålig Ulv Stranden. There in front of her, in his old brown pinstriped suit, was the Doctor.

John stood on one side of Jack's bed in the High Dependency Unit of the hospital floor in Torchwood Tower, Pete stood on the other. The attending doctor had just introduced a stimulant into a drip line that would counteract the powerful sedative from the tranquiliser dart.

The forensic lab had quickly analysed the remnants of the tranquiliser left in the dart and synthesised the antidote. Jack's eyelids fluttered and he started to stir as his body fought the sedative.

"ROSE!" He sat bolt upright, panic and fear on his face. Strong arms pushed him back down on the bed. He turned to look at the face, his eyes struggling to focus.

"Doc?" he asked weakly.

"Hi Jack. How'ya doing?" John smiled back.

"Fine. How's Rose, is she alright?" He saw the look in John's eyes. "Oh Doc, I'm so sorry. They jumped us as we came out the shop, I didn't..."

"Hey, Jack, it's okay. There was nothing you could do. The shop owner picked up your phone when I rang it and told me what happened," John told him, trying to comfort him.

"Right now I need information. What can you remember about the kidnapper?"

Jack rested his head back on the pillow and closed his eyes. He replayed the events like a video, taking in the whole scene.

"Black hair. Prominent eyebrow ridges. Deep set steel blue eyes. Wide nose. Thin lips. Round chin with a cleft." He was in 'agent' mode now; ignoring his feelings for Rose he reported as much detail as he could.

"He spoke only once, 'Mrs Smith, you will come with me'. Eastern European accent. They knew their target. He wore an 'off the peg' black suit, white shirt and black tie and..." Jack screwed his eyes shut in concentration. "Over the tie he wore some kind of medallion."

Pete's eyes were wide in admiration, they had told him he was good, but that was brilliant. John lifted the tablet and showed him the image Gwen had taken earlier. Jack looked at it for a long while, taking in all the details.

"Yeah, that looks like it. Where did you get that photo?"

"Gwen took it at the factory unit; it was behind the back wheel of the getaway car. It's the symbol of an underground extremist religious sect in the Balkan States," John told him.

"What the hell do they want with Rose and EJ?" Jack asked.

"I'm just on my way down to the lab to make a call and find out."

Pete looked a bit puzzled. "What's wrong with the phone here, or your mobile?"

John gave them his enigmatic smile. "Who said anything about a phone?"

Jackie put the phone down and sat heavily on the sofa. She felt like she was going to throw up. Tears were stinging her eyes and her hands were trembling.

"Why does this always happen to them?" she cried. "I thought they'd left all that behind them in the other world. WHY CAN'T TROUBLE JUST LEAVE THEM ALONE!" she shouted at the ceiling. "THEY'VE GOT A LITTLE BABY TO LOOK AFTER NOW!" She started to sob, her breath coming in gasps.

There was a knock at the door and Alistair put his head around to look towards the sofa.

"Mrs Tyler, whatever's the matter." He moved quickly to the sofa and sat next to Jackie looking into her eyes. He instinctively reached for her hand and she squeezed it in return.

"It's Rose and young EJ... They've been kidnapped."

A look of surprise and then anger flashed across his face. "Oh dear God no. What kind of low life would want to do that?"

Jackie started to wail. "Please forgive the impropriety Ma'am, but I think someone needs a hug." He pulled her into a fierce hug as he rocked with her and patted her back.

"Oh Alistair, what am I going to do?"

Alistair abandoned his employer / employee formality and spoke to his friend. "Well, the first thing you are going to do Jackie, is give me the rest of the day off. There are some old acquaintances I need to see and old favours I need to call in."

"Wha?" Jackie said as she wiped her eyes and blew her nose.

"Ask me no questions and I'll tell you no lies," he said as he stood and headed for the door.

"Commander, the third planet has a large moon. We could use that to mask our approach. It would allow us to observe without being detected," the science officer said.

"Very well, plot an approach vector that keeps the moon between us and the planet."

The helmsman responded. "I will obey."

"Investigate the inhabitants and try to determine who speaks for the planet. Look for the most advanced technology."

"I will obey," the science officer said.

The saucer shaped craft moved behind the asteroid belt until it was in a position to approach without being detected. Within a certain distance, they started to pick up a global computer network and began downloading terabytes of information about the societies and civilisations on the planet.

John and Pete left Jack to fully recover, while they made their way up to John's lab in Forensics. John hadn't said a word since he left the Hospital floor, telling Pete that he needed to focus.

When they got to the lab, John lit some incense and sat cross legged on the floor. Pete watched as his breathing started deep and slow, and then became shallow and slow.

Pete almost fell over as John's eyes snapped open, it felt like he had been pushed backwards by his gaze. There was no warm brown in his eyes, just black. But not the black fury of the oncoming storm, it was tranquil, ancient and deep.

John stood and moved his head as a blind person sometimes does, hearing the position of someone rather than seeing them. Pete gave an involuntary shiver when he looked at him, well, it was more of a look through him.

"I can see your fear Pete," his otherworldly voice said. "Do not be afraid, I am just preparing myself to contact Rose and EJ."

He moved to the far side of the room and lay down on a futuristic looking couch. He reached up and lowered a transparent visor over his head that was covered with a variety of probes, sensors and wires.

"Have a seat," John said. "This may take a while."

"What is all this?" Pete asked, waving his hand at the couch and visor.

"I hope it's a psychic amplifier and transmitter. This central probe by my forehead has a slither of a TARDIS incorporated into it. There should be enough Artron energy to forge a link with Rose."

The visor was filled with a golden white light as John relaxed into the couch. When John had given Rose his Gallifreyan name on their wedding night, she had suddenly been given the ability to speak and understand Gallifreyan.

He was hoping that she had also been given other Gallifreyan abilities as well. He knew she was empathic, able to feel his emotions and those of EJ, and hopefully, with having looked into the heart of the TARDIS, she may be a latent telepath.

He knew she could hear him when he sent a telepathic message; she had made it to that beach all those years ago. If they spoke in Gallifreyan, he might just be able to hear her.

He first nudged himself into EJ's mind and gave him thoughts and feelings of love and reassurance.

"It's alright son, Dad's here, everything is going to be okay," he cooed to him. He got back a warm glow of love and contentment that almost made him cry.

John started to chuckle as he realised where EJ was and what he was doing. He liked doing that to his mummy as well, but he wasn't interested in milk.

The golden light faded and he could see Rose's head. He gasped when he realised she had an endotracheal tube in her mouth. He could hear the 'hiss and puff' of the ventilator, and a woman telling him he was a good boy as he was lifted off Rose.

In his present mental state, there was no anger or rage at what had been done to Rose, just the dispassionate knowledge recorded which would be acted on later.

'Ooh, now there's something you don't see every day', John thought to himself as EJ looked at the woman burping him. 'A lizard nanny'. She was quite attractive, with pale green and yellow patterned scales, steel blue eyes with vertical slit pupils.

EJ was put on his side in a transparent cot where he could look at his mother, who was now covered with a silky sheet. His distance vision wasn't that good at the moment as he still had to learn how to control the focussing of his eyes.

But he could hear. He had inherited his father's hearing and it was exceptional. He heard the elderly green lizard man talking to Rose and his Dad now had an idea of what was going on.

It was time to try and contact Rose and he knew how to make the call. With a wicked grin, he remembered the first night they had spent together in this new world. Neither of them had slept much that night, and her empathic link would pick this up very quickly.

The golden light glowed bright again, and when it cleared he could see Rose standing before him on a familiar beach. She was dressed in the black leather jacket, lilac tee shirt and black trousers she had worn when he said goodbye through the breach.

He lifted his right hand and waggled his fingers. {"Hello."}

Rose giggled and waved back. {"Hello."} It worked! He could hear her.

John looked around the beach and raised an eyebrow. {"Interesting choice of venue."}

{"Is this like last time, y'know, are you a hologram or somethin'?"} she asked him.

John acted as though he was suddenly startled. {"What? Oh no, no. We're inside your head; you can do what you like."}

No sooner had he finished speaking, when she grabbed his lapels and pulled him into a full on snog that she had wanted to do that first time on this beach.

They finished the kiss and rested their foreheads together; she was clinging to his lapels, never wanting to let him go.

{"They've got me paralysed John, it's awful, I feel so vulnerable and helpless."}

{"I know love, I was in EJ watching and listening,"} he told her.

{"Is he alright, the poor mite must be wonderin' what's goin' on."}

{"We're all wondering that. No, he's fine; I sent him feelings of reassurance. Oh, and Jack's awake as well, he was able to give us a detailed description of your attacker."}

John grinned and raised his eyebrows. {"Talking of your attacker, I understand you gave a good account of yourself."}

She gave him a smile but looked disappointed. {"Not good enough though or I wouldn't be lyin' in that bed, breathin' through a machine."}

He pulled her into a hug before they started exchanging information.

{"Lizards!? You're kiddin'. What the hell do lizards want with our son?"} she asked when he told her what EJ had seen.

{"They are slaves to their religion and their beliefs. EJ is their saviour and that's that. End of! Is that bonkers or what?"} Whoops, a bit of Donna there.

{"Oh John, what are we going to do? How are we going to get out of this?"}

He hugged her again. {"Try not to worry love; you've got the best team in this world and any other working on this. And remember this, I will find you, and I will bring you home, I promise."}

He took her face in his hands and gently kissed her on the lips as they were enveloped in the golden white light. When he opened his eyes, he was looking at the inside of the over couch visor.

Leaping off the couch, he looked at Pete with concern in his now normal eyes. "We've got a problem," he told him. "They're planning on taking them off world and we haven't got much time."