Disclaimer: Yo no propio el Doctor Who

A/n: I love writing Jack, even though I'm not at all sure if I did it well. This chapter took a while to write because even though I knew what scene I wanted to write, I had no idea who's perspective to write it from or how to do it, and then it just wouldn't come out right...speaking of which, if anybody has any suggestions of who's perspective you want to see (new people, more from people I've already done, anything), I would love to hear from you. I have a vague plan for how I want this to go and where I want it to end, but nothing is set in stone, so I can fit in pretty much everything.

Spoilers: Pretty much any of what Jack says in Utopia (s3 ep11). I could be wrong, because I rewrote this a few times, but just to be on the safe side :)

000

He suspected this might happen, but the truth of it is heartbreaking.

He found her on the executioner's block on some backwater planet for no other reason than that she was in the wrong place at the wrong time. He had thought that it was sad, that people should be killed for such a small reason, but he had given up interfering in events long ago, some time when he had just left earth.

Then they pulled off the mask and he saw her face, and he realized what was happening, who they were about to kill. It had been the work of a moment to teleport to her and take her away. So what if he can't return there for a few millennia? So what if he gets branded as a criminal for rescuing one of his best friends? She's worth it, she's worth anything, and he knows that the Doctor would agree.

He had wondered where the Doctor was until he looked at her face, really looked at it, and then he knew.

He takes care of her, now, bringing her along in his travels. She never talks, and he resolves to learn telepathy, even though he knows that by the time he figures it out, she'll be long gone, no matter how this ends.

Still, he comforts her in any way he can, giving her anything that she seems to want, anything to try to get through to her. He got her a new mask because she seemed a bit lost without it, but not even that puts her back together, not even a little bit. He realizes that she needs to hide herself, and stays away from crowds.

Sometimes it's unavoidable, though, like the embassy ball on Original Earth. The old planet still hasn't blown up yet, and he wonders if he'll live to see it. At the moment, though, it's still the base for the human race, and the President has a bit of a thing for him. Normally, he wouldn't mind, but now that he has to take care of Rose, who will probably be terrified of all the people, he wishes there were a way to back out.

Unfortunately for both of them, there isn't, and on the day of the ball they both turn up with all of the pomp and circumstance of two people, one of them extremely rich, who don't want to be there. Well, he thinks she doesn't want to be there, but she just kind of stands there.

He thanks whatever power governs the universe that tonight is a masquerade. He doesn't know how he would have passed off her mask otherwise, and this just makes everything so much easier. At the same time, he's worried; between all of the rich, powerful, and famous that are going to be here, wearing a mask could get you on the wrong end of an assassination attempt, and there's going to be at least one, he can just tell.

But, whispers that obnoxiously optimistic voice at the back of his head that he makes a habit of ignoring, maybe that means that the Doctor will be there. If anything major happens, it's practically a given.

He tells the voice to go do something anatomically impossible. Then he wonders if maybe he's going insane. Oh well.

The party is going pretty smoothly, with only a small ripple when the Queen of Malday and the Zztribub of Larapip got into a tiff about the meaning behind one of the old animated Disney movie (once they were rediscovered in 621,947, they became some of the most controversial psychology material ever to be mentioned in a university). He's trying to catch the eye of an attractive ginger who likes like she's either very confused, laughing at the ridiculous getup some of the people are in, or most likely both, when he sees the Doctor and realizes that he lost Rose.

It's okay, though, because the Doctor's right next to her and now she's looking at him and now he's talking, and then somehow their dancing and he would give anything to know how she got him to do that.

Then again, she is Rose, even if she is broken, and he is the Doctor, even if he's forgotten her, and they will always belong in each other's arms.

She drifts off after the song ends, and he goes back to wherever he was before that, and watching from the sidelines he's left muttering such blistering profanity that several of the people nearest him look at him in shock and move to get away from his vicinity. The night goes on, the Doctor saves them all from getting blown up by an insane arsonist, and everyone departs relatively safe and sound.

Nothing has changed, nothing is new. Rose is still broken, and he is still taking care of her.

But now, sometimes, when he has to leave her alone for a few minutes, she looks just a little bit brighter when he comes back, and he wonders just what—or who—she's seen.

A/n: ARGH! This ending bothers me so much...oh well. Sorry if it sucks.