Someone told me that love would all save us.
But how can that be?
Look what love gave us.
A world full of killing, and blood-spilling, that world never came.

Chad Kroeger & Josey Scott - Hero

Last of the Time Lords

The engine room was hot and steamy. Jack was chained up against the grating but he still kept a brave face on things. Winter lay on the floor of the cage The Master kept her in, fingering the strong collar around her neck. She felt like a dog.

'You know …'

'Jack Harkness if you make another stupid comment about imagining me on a lead before, I'll open this cage and kill you myself,' she snapped.

He shut his mouth and she sighed, sitting up, 'Sorry, just. The Doctor's given me a lot to think about. What if it doesn't work?'

Nemo pressed up against the bars of her cage the key Tish had slipped to her grasped in her hand. She turned it gently in the lock and the door swung open. Her side still bruised from falling down the stair the week before, she hissed as it came into contact with the edge.

'What the hell are you doing?' Jack asked from his chained position.

'Going for a look around.'

'Are you crazy?' he whispered quickly, 'If he catches you your dead, you know that.'

She unscrewed the bolts on the air vent and pulled the grating off.

'Then I'd better not be seen.' She slipped the key into her bra and started to climb through the vent. It was cramped and hard to get through without making a noise but finally she found the end she wanted. She stuck her fingers through and painstakingly turned each bolt on the outside of the vent, stopping every time one fell to the floor to make sure no one had heard.

The main control room was quiet. The table bare and the lights dim. The only difference was the large tent now sat a few meters away from her. She crept over and peaked through the flap. It was the Doctor! A momentary swell of happiness flooded through her as she climbed inside and watched him sleeping. He seemed peaceful and it made her feel like nothing could be wrong with the world. Gently she reached forward and took his hand. It was colder than before, it didn't radiate the warmth and comfort it had when he'd walked down the corridor on the trip that seemed like it was, oh so long ago.

An hour past. Maybe two and without warning the Doctor's eyes snapped open. He looked surprised to see her there but she put her finger to her lips to tell him to keep it down. She helped him sit up and he ran a hand over the bruised side of her arm.

She shrugged at his look of regret, 'What can you do, you can't expect to fight an evil genius without a few bruises.'

'What are you doing here?' He asked, slowly.

'I'd love to say I came to see you but that was a bit of an accident really, I came to have a nosey around actually.'

He smiled, 'How is everyone, I haven't seen them.'

'He's got Martha's family in maid's outfits; they're being used as slaves. Jacks chained to a wall in the engine room with me but he's fine, still flirting.'

'It'll take more than The Master to stop Jack from flirting,' The Doctor chuckled, 'What about you?'

'Oh, me? I'm fine.'

The doctor glared at her in the dim light and she grabbed a torch that had been left at his side, flicking it on she turned in on her neck.

'What is that?' he sounded angry, like the mere sight of the thing sickened him.

'A collar, apparently he's always wanted a pet monkey,' She joked.

He looked seriously at her and ran his hand over it, 'Dead-lock seal probably, not that I could open it without the screwdriver…'

'It's fine, he'd only put another on.'

The Doctor looked heartbreakingly sad so it was time to change the subject.

'So, talk to me.'

'What?'

'I want to know what's going on, how you're planning on solving this. You know, the grand plan.'

The Doctor settled down and began talking in a quiet but fast whisper. She listened intently but he wasn't finished when the sun came up.

'You have to go now,' The Doctor told her.

'What? But I want to know the rest.'

'Come back tonight, I could do with the company, I may be old but I still don't sleep much.'

She nodded and crawled out of the tent before making her way back to Jack the way she had come.

Months had past since then and she'd gone every night. Some nights she just curled up and slept by him, other he talked of previous companions and the adventures they had had. Every day the Master had her brought to him on a lead which he would tie to the bars of the staircase. She would use the time to sleep or imagine what she would do when she got back home. Sometimes she sang songs in her head, other she practised languages by thinking in them as much as possible. But all in all life was boring and the Master was getting tetchier every day that Martha Jones was not returned to him.

Today however was to be different. The Master entered the engine room. It wasn't the first time he'd done so. Jack braced himself because it normally meant dying a few times. The Master unlocked the cage and swung open the door motioning for Winter to exit. This was new. She climbed out and stood in front of Jack trying to work out what on earth was going through the madman's mind. He stared back and then broke into a grin.

'Hello. We're going to have a little chat.'

She glanced at Jack who looked just as confused as she did.

The Master continued, 'I want to know what it is the Doctor has planned, now he wouldn't plan anything without telling one of you two,' he suddenly yelled, 'So talk!'

'I'm not really in a chatty mood, you can ask my counterpart here but I'm sure he'd say the same.' Winter told him.

Shaking his head Jack supported her decision, 'Besides I've been chained up down here for … how long has it been?'

Winter caught on and turned to face him.

'You know, I just don't have a clue? Weeks, months, a day?'

'Do you think I've missed the next Harry Potter film I was gonna take you to see that.'

She smiled, 'You were?'

'Shut up!' screamed the Master, they turned to look at him as he seethed. 'You're trying my patience.'

A grin broke out on his face. 'Never mind, see you're both playing for time because we all know that no matter how much I torture the American Dream he's going to keep coming back for more, but over the months we've all forgotten that there are two of you in the room.' He looked pointedly at Winter and Jack went very quiet. The Master edged forwads, 'Tell me, how easy is it to climb a rope with a few less fingers.'

Winter gritted her teeth, imagining the possibilities and pushed it right to the back of her mind. 'I'd imagine it would be just as easy to kick the shit out of you,' she smiled back sarcastically.

He glared at her for a moment then switched personality as quickly as turning on a light bulb. 'Well then, on to plan B. Your friend and my leverage, Mr…Ianto Jones.'

Winter's jaw dropped as Ianto was thrust into the room by two guards. He hadn't changed much. A bit dirty and wearing his out of work cloths. Jeans, t shirt, black wooden beads around his neck. She smiled and ran over to him wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing his cheek.

'Aww, how sweet.'

'Where are the others?' she asked.

'Dead,' he whispered in her ear.

'A bit like you then,' The Master's voice broke in.

Jack cried out as across the room The Master's guard discharged his weapon. Winter didn't see it, but she heard the shot, she felt the blood spatter over her face and she felt his dead weight as she collapsed underneath it.

Ianto Jones lay, his head cradled in her lap, bloody and broken. Jack turned his head away, tears streaming from his eyes as Winter, whimpered on the floor. Her hands up as if surrendering, wavered in the dead air. She looked down wide eyed at his blank expression and the thick, mixture of blood and brain matter still spilling out onto her legs. She put her hands slowly to his face and neck, he was still warm.

A slight twitch in his hand made her start and the whole situation caught up with her in less than a second.

The broken, feral scream that clawed up from her throat was heard all the way up in the control room by the Doctor. She reached out across his chest grasping his arm and pulling him closer. Spotting something out of the corner of her eye she grabbed at the floor for it dropping it in an instant when she realised it was a shard of skull. Crazed whines escaped her mouth with no sense as she rocked back and forward gripping his shirt, willing him back to her.

The Master grimaced and rolled his eyes, waving toward the scene as he left the room. His guard approached the dead body and attempted to pull it away but Winter Clawed at him, her fingernails scratched his face and nearly got his eye. He reeled backwards and spat at them, backing off out of the doorway, nursing his wound. Winter curled herself around Ianto, her head resting on his static chest.

Jack sagged against the chains. He'd pulled so hard to get to them that his skin was cut deep and he was ninety percent sure he'd dislocated his shoulder but it would fix. Ianto wouldn't. And Winter? He was certain she hadn't heard him shout, couldn't hear him call to her now. He'd seen her reach for that bone on the floor and begged her not to. Ianto. He was so still, floppy like a rag doll when he should be precise, held together, strong. He'd lain in those arms before this, been pushed against walls, trapped between them but now they lay sprawled out across the floor coated in congealing blood. He felt sick.

Not even just Ianto. His whole team were gone. Dead, probably left on some mountain. He'd never find them. All of this, all of it because he'd run away. He'd jumped onto the TARDIS and run away to the ends of the universe when he should have been leading his team. This had become more than just passing the time until The Doctor arrived. It was a commitment now, a responsibility. He put this team together and never realised quite how much that entailed. Until this moment. Watching his dead lover, lying in a pool of blood Winter curled over him like a cub beneath it's hunted parent.

He watched over them until evening. The time had passed slowly and for a brief disgusting moment he worried The Master planned to leave Ianto in this hot room with little air filtering. He could probably just about manage the torture of months with a rotting corpse but Winter. It would finish her.

Winter, meanwhile, felt nothing. Saw nothing. Heard nothing. Until the door slid open and four large men walked through, towards her with intention and stopped, looking down at her, expecting a fight. She finally lifted herself from Ianto's chest and moved her hands up to his neck. Everything was bloody and her fingers slipped several times but she finally managed to slide the beads from around his neck and attach them to her own. Then with one last sniff she retreated to her cage and shut the door herself.

The men leaned down and picked Ianto Jones up by the arms, dragging him out of the room. Jack winced when the body thumped on the bump of the doorway. An hour later Tish was sent in to clean up the blood. She looked over to Winter but caught Jack's eye and he shook his head softly. Keeping as quiet as she could Tish cleaned the floor. When Winter awoke, there was no sign, outside of her cage, that Ianto had ever been there.

For five days Winter lay staring at her hands, covered in blood. Jack attempted to talk to her but his voice fell on deaf ears. On the fifth day she left the cage while he slept and crawled back through the vent passage to The Doctor's tent. He awoke with a start and took in the dishevelled girl in a blood soaked dress, with her haunted eyes. He opened his arms and let her crawl in beside him.

The next day the Master had her washed and redressed and taken to the main room again. He talked and talked but she never answered, she just stared into space. This went on for another week until The Master finally snapped.

In a rage he slapped her across the face and spat and The Doctor, 'What's wrong with her! Why won't she talk?'

Winter just stood as though she'd barely registered the blow and the Doctor shook his head.

'That was always your downfall,' he replied, 'human emotions are complicated and delicate. You wanted to break her. Well congratulations she's broken.'

They all left her be after that. For two months she spent her day at the foot of the stairs and her nights within the tent has she had before. No one talked to her but The Doctor. He talked and he talked, he would ask her a question but answer himself and she knew he was trying to take her mind off everything.

But in her mind she still saw Ianto and the look on his face as he drew his last breath. She still felt the blood, dripping from his wound to her skin, the sharp shard of bone in her palm. Over the days though, she felt a presence in her mind. A warmth, pushing her own and forcing her to stand when really she just wanted to collapse to the floor and never get up. She sometimes woke, hearing soft singing. She knew it was likely her brain cracking up but she would take any comfort she could and welcome.

Then things changed. The Master lashed out and aged The Doctor again. Winter started visiting the tiny cage The Doctor was trapped inside. Now she visited but there was no comforting arm around her, no words whispered in her ear. Instead the Doctor sat in his cage and murmured every so often. This was how it was when Martha Jones appeared back on the Valiant.

TTT

Martha's eyes widened for a moment when she saw her family, The Doctor, the Captain and Nemo but her façade stayed put as she approached the Master and kneeled. When she laughed Winter couldn't bring herself to join in her lips wouldn't move. She watched as the Master's confusion became apparent.

'What? What's so funny?'

'A gun?' Martha said.

'What about it?'

'A gun in four parts?'

'Yes? And I destroyed it.'

'A gun? In four parts scattered across the world? I mean come on did you really believe that?'

'What do you mean?'

The Doctor griped the edge of his cage with one hand, 'As if I would ask her to kill,' he whispered.

'It doesn't matter. I've got her exactly where I want her,' The Master argued.

'But I knew what professor Docherty would do,' Martha explained, 'the resistance knew about her son. I told her about the gun so she would get me here. At the right time.'

'But you're still going to die,' The Master told her.

Winter backed up slowly towards The Doctor's cage, untying the lead from the stairs.

'Don't you want to know what I was doing travelling the world?' Martha asked.

'Tell me,' The Master sighed.

'I told a story, that's all. No weapons just words. I did just what The Doctor said, I went across the continents all on my own and everywhere I went I found the people and I told them my story. I told them about The Doctor and I told them to pass it on. To spread the word so that everyone would know about The Doctor.'

'Faith and hope, is that all?'

'No, because I gave them an instruction, just as The Doctor said. I told them that if everyone thinks of one word at on specific time…'

'Nothing will happen.' The Master snapped, 'is that your weapon? Prayer?'

'Right across the world. One word, just one thought at one moment but with fifteen satellites.'

'What?' The Master asked.

Jack answered from the corner where he was held, 'The archangel network.'

'A telepathic field binding the whole human race together with all of them every single person on Earth thinking the same thing. At the same time and that word, is "Doctor".'

Winter jumped around and opened the cage with the key to hers. Allowing The Doctor to break free from it.

'Stop it!' The Master ordered, 'No! No, no, no, no you don't!'

She ignored every word he said and closed her eyes thinking of The Doctor as she remembered him. Pouring everything she had left into it.

She opened her eyes and saw The Doctor, fully grown, floating above her and for the first time in almost two months, she smiled but her smile faded when he dropped in front of The Master and hugged him. After everything he'd done?

The Doctor turned around and yelled, 'Captain! The paradox machine.'

Winter followed after Jack to the TARDIS but when she ran towards it she had to stop. It was like having someone screaming in her head. The closer she got the louder the screaming got. Louder still as the Captain opened fire on the paradox machine. Winter opened her mouth in a silent scream as she squeezed her eyes shut and ran back to the main control room, the screaming dimming the further she got.

She made it just in time and held onto the bars of the stairs as the paradox swirled around them.

'Everyone get down!' The Doctor, who had suddenly reappeared, yelled, 'time is reversing!'

The wind died down and The Doctor got up from the floor. He rushed over to the controls to check, 'Paradox is broken, we've reverted back. One year and one day. Two minutes past eight in the morning.' He flicked the radio on and they listened to the worried UNIT officer. 'Just after the president was killed but just before the spheres arrived. Everything back to normal, planet earth restored. None of it happened, the rockets, the terror, it never was.'

'What about the spheres?' Martha asked.

'Trapped at the end of the universe,' He replied.

'But I can remember it,' Francine said.

'We're at the eye of the storm. The only ones who would ever know.'

Winter saw The Master getting to his feet but her voice still refused to work. Suddenly The Doctor saw Martha's dad and rushed over to introduce himself.

In the fuss The Master took the opportunity to make a run for it. Winter rushed over and slid in front of him. Tripping him up, he went flying into Jack as he entered the room.

'Woo big fella' don't want to miss the party.' Jack pushed The Master, a little bit harder than he might have done, back into the room and Winter got to her feet staring blankly at him. As everyone deliberated what to do with him she uncurled the fists she hadn't even realised she was making and welcomed the warm golden glow of hope that had accompanied her these last few weeks. It urged her towards the window and she looked out over the world.

'Somewhere down there, Ianto Jones was still alive,' the feeling seemed to tell her. She smiled to herself and turned around but a gun shot rang out and she fell back against the side of the ship, Ianto's death flashing before her shut eyes. She forced them open to see The Master fall.

Jack retrieved the gun from Lucy, pocketing it and then made his way over to Winter picking her off the floor. He lifted her head up and ran a thumb over her cheek while his other hand twisted the connecting circle of her lead until it snapped, leaving her in just the collar and then leading her away from the room.

They steadily made their way back to the TARDIS, Jack never taking his hand from her waist, and Winter was glad to feel that the screams had turned to soft whimpers that echoed back in her own mind.

They moved around the console. She trailed her fingers over a panel and it pulsated with warm green light. Jack took her through the corridors, expertly guiding her to a large bath room. The floors and walls were marble, cool and smooth. The bath was just a massive pool stretching out to the simulated garden vista at the other end of the room.

He lead her in, both still fully clothed and they sat halfway down the steps for a while. She watched as the water lapped around her and laid her head on Jack's shoulder.

'We're going home,' he told her, 'back to our team. Back to Ianto.'

She made no sound or movement, so he kissed her forehead and they just sat, bathing in peace.

TTT

Her hair dripped around her face as she ran leave-in conditioner through it. She had taken a pair of scissors to the blond ends cutting it back as far as she could so it fell just brushing her shoulders. She dared not go any further with the collar still in her way. Brushing strands of hair to the floor she pulled her towel closer and escaped to the wardrobe pulling out another dress. The only thing she would take from that experience was a new appreciation for dresses. It turned out it was possible to climb in one, she just preferred a flared skirt that gave her a bit more room. This one was dark blue and she added a thick brown belt around the waist.

Hidden in amongst a tonne of black boots she found a brown pair with good grip on the sole and heel and slipped them on, before leaving the room. Across from her, on the walk back was, once again, Jacks room. The door was a crack open and he had been very dirty so she guessed he was out showering again, since the bath probably didn't get it all. She crept inside, his filthy wet clothes were scattered over the floor and she noticed the photo on the night stand had moved to the bed where the covers were slightly creased where he had sat down to remove his boots. Not wanting to be here when he got back she sheepishly slid his hat from the hanger on the door and placed it on her head at a slightly off angle.

Deciding now would be a good time to go back to the console room she let the lights lead her to join the Doctor. She found him hidden beneath the panels of the TARDIS fixing a last bolt. He looked up, spotted her and proceeded to jump from the hole to her side, 'How are you?' he asked as he took The Master's laser screwdriver to the collar still attached to her neck.

She shrugged and he sighed, 'Still, not talking?'

The collar snapped away and she rubbed her neck, so grateful to be able to tough the sore skin again. She looked away and bowed her head but he lifted it up and placed his fingers on her temple.

Can you talk here?

She gasped in a rush of air as she heard his voice in her mind.

How are you doing that?

Telepathic field remember, you have to be telepathic to start off to make it possible.He smiled and she grinned back.

I heard screaming, she told him, when I came in here before, when it was the paradox machine. And then when it was all over it changed to a sort of whimper, now it's like…

Sighing? He asked.

She nodded.

It's the TARDIS. You were hearing her. Still are, it would seem.

How?

He thought for a moment and then answered, Remember I told the Master that he had given me a year to work myself into the archangel network, to tune my brain to it.

She nodded again.

You've been silent for about two months, almost, how would you put this, 'out of it'

She let out a silent laugh.

The TARDIS herself was reaching out telepathically, for me, but I was pushing her away because she was infected. You were the next field it reached for. Martha was too far and likely not as responsive to her, She's not too keen on Jack at the moment and she hates The Master for hurting her, and us.

So I'm linked to the TARDIS?

Slightly. When you get home you may get some odd feelings every now and then, you might be able to tell when she's landed on earth. Watch out for any other side effects though.

She nodded and he let go as Martha and Jack walked in with four cups of tea. Winter took hers from Jack and sat in the captain's seat.

'Is that my hat?' Jack asked suddenly.

Winter looked up at him and smiled wickedly. He shook his head and the Doctor and Martha laughed.

TTT

Winter stepped off the TARDIS and looked over her home. The Plaza was teeming with life and they leant on the railings as they watched the world go by.

'Time was, every single one of these people new your name,' Martha told the Doctor, 'now they've all forgotten you.'

'Good,' he replied.

'Back to work,' Jack told them and ducked under the bars.

'I really don't mind though,' The Doctor told Jack.

Winter smiled and gently smoothed a hand over the side of the TARDIS in goodbye.

'Come with me. Both of you.'

Jack looked at Winter and then back to the Doctor, 'I had plenty of time to think that year. The year that never was and I kept thinking of that team of ours. Like you said Doctor, responsibility.'

'Defending the earth can't argue with that.' He turned to Winter, 'and you'll follow him won't you.'

She smiled warmly and nodded. So the Doctor grabbed Jack's wrist strap.

'Hey I need that.'

'I can't have you walking around with a time travel teleport, you'd go anywhere. Twice! The second time to apologise.'

Winter let out a giggle at the pair of them and they all turned around to stare at her.

'Was that..?' Jack looked stunned.

'That, was a giggle,' The Doctor grinned, 'you giggled.'

She blushed a deep pink and he swept her up in his arms and hugged tightly, 'Oh, if you ever, ever want reconsider having another quick trip, you know how to find me, Jack has a number.' He thought for a moment, 'although the TARDIS might figure it out without a call.'

She smiled as Martha and Jack looked on in confusion. After giving a quick hug to Martha she hopped over the bars and down to the main plaza.

'Doctor?' Jack looked up at him, 'What about me, can you fix that? Will I ever be able to die?'

'Nothing I can do,' The Doctor replied, 'you're an impossible thing Jack.'

Jack laughed, 'Been called that before.'

He joined her and then span around for a salute and one last question, 'What about aging? Because I can't die but I keep getting older, you know the odd grey hair? You know, what happens if I live for a million years.'

Winter smiled at the idea but trained her face into a mildly solemn look.

'I really don't know,' The Doctor told him.

'Okay vanity sorry.'

They said good bye and set off across the plaza to the invisible lift. Jack lowered it and she felt like she could cry. The hub was exactly the same. She couldn't keep the tears from her eyes as she jumped to one of her poles and slid the rest of the way down, meeting up with Jack at the bottom and throwing her arms around his neck.

He laughed and lifted her off the floor, spinning her around, 'We're home!' He yelled.

They raced into his office switching on the CCTV.

A loud squeak from the corner of the room brought to her attention a certain monkey. He leapt into her arms and for a moment she worried she would squash him with the amount of force she had put into his hug. Jack chuckled and leaned over the screen, 'The SUV's gone. They must be out.'

He flipped open the wrist strap again and turned to her. 'I'll track them down, you stay here and get comfortable. She put Jack's hat, well, hers now, on the table and settled in his seat, fiddling with Ianto's beads still around her neck. Pip picked up her now shorter hair with a confused look.

…

Oh.

…

[So she's back at Torchwood. But how will they react. Please review they make me smile.]

[Zaziness: lol, don't worry no one got it, not even my friend and I gave her way more clues than you lot. You were absolutely right however about my favourite part of the chapter. Defiantly the phone conversation. i think the banter between Jack and the Doctor was really funny, it just flowed :) If it make you feel any better I've always wanted to go to new Zealand because it's where quite a few of my favourite films were made :) looks like we should be doing a swap lol. unfortunately this chapter may seem like a bit of a downer but it'll get better.

sonotalady: I think the events of these chapters do have a profound effect on Winter. She's defiantly growing up but she's still quite childish at heart. Not quite what I was looking for but excellent answer. I feel like an English teacher asking comprehension questions :) I'm glad you like the tempo. I'll try to keep it up!]