Chapter Five

Caroline finds the door leading to the back room. It seems to have some sort of mechanism that keeps the door from being opened by those who are not intended to enter. Caroline knocks on the door. Nothing happens. She knocks louder. Still nothing. Frustrated and feeling on the verge of tears once more, she kicks the door with her shoe.

The door slides open, revealing a very surprised young man on the other side. Caroline immediately recognizes it as the person Captain Harkness so rudely introduced himself to earlier. She believed his name was Donald.

"Hello? What are you doing here?" Donald asks.

"Donald, I am so sorry, but I seem to have forgotten my fan in your storage area."

"How did you get back here in the first place?"

"My companion secured us a private tour."

Donald considers things for a moment and then steps aside to let her through. "Where did you leave your fan?"

"Oh, I can find it on my own."

"I'll have to escort you, miss. No one but authorize personnel is allowed to wander about on their own."

Caroline nods. "I believe I left my fan by the fish tank."

. . .

Donald taps a code into the mechanism by the door, and they enter the room with the fish tank. Immediately Donald perks up. Something isn't right. The giant fish is splashing and flailing about and Mistress Calini is yowling.

Caroline rushes forward and slaps Mistress Calini in the face with her fan.

"What have you done with Captain Harkness?"

The cat hisses and lunges for Caroline. Donald pulls himself together just in time to grab a buoy from beside the tank and throw it as the catwoman. Mistress Calini is knocked back. Slipping sideways, she tries to grab onto Caroline to keep from falling in the tank but Caroline pushes the Catwoman backward and into the water.

Splash!

The catwoman struggles to keep her head above the water. The fish sensing fresh prey surges at the catwoman and, in one, gulp swallows her whole.

A triumphant cry comes from the back of the fish. Caroline raises her eyes and sees that Captain Jack Harkness is riding the fish like a horse.

"You are alive!" Caroline yells.

"You came to save me!" He calls back with a satisfied smile. "Oh and hello, Donald!" He adds, waving to the very surprised young man standing behind Caroline.

As the fish prepares to dive below surface, Captain Harkness rises to his feet and, in one glorious leap, vaults off the back of the fish and onto dry land. Caroline rushes to his side and helps him up.

"Are you all right?" She asks.

"I am, but I don't think I can say the same about Donald."

Caroline turns, only to find Donald passed out on the floor.

"Poor man," she says with complete sincerity.

Captain Harkness, meanwhile, grabs her shoulders and pulls her into a hug. "Thank you for coming back for me. I wouldn't have been able to hold onto that beasty for much longer."

"I am glad I could be of assistance, but if you do not mind, I would very much like to return home now."

"I can't say I blame you. Sorry to have saved you from the ocean only to have you almost be turned into fish food."

She sighs as Captain Jack once again fiddles with the band on his wrist. Once everything's in order, he looks up. His eyes meet hers. "Are you ready?"

"Most certainly."

"Deep breath now."

This time, as she prepares to take a deep breath, she feels Captain Jack pulls her close and kiss her firmly on the lips.

They disappear, leaving poor Donald unconscious on the floor.

. . .

Caroline doesn't notice the smell of wildflowers or the cool breeze on her cheeks until Captain Harkness removes his lips from hers.

"Thanks for saving me, sweetheart."

"Thank you for returning me home," she says breathlessly.

"So this is where you live?"

The both break eye contact and look around. They appear to be on an impressive estate. It takes a moment for it to register with Caroline that it is not the one which belongs to the Bingley's. Caroline feels a pit growing in her stomach.

"This is not my home."

"Then whose is it?"

They hear someone clearing their throat. Caroline and Jack turn. On a picnic blanket behind them, a family of four sit. Caroline frowns at the astonished stares of the Darcy family-Fitzwilliam, Elizabeth, Georgiana, and the baby.

"I suppose it was too much to hope that I had awakened from this nightmare," Caroline says with a sigh.

Meanwhile, Jack extends his hand.

"The name's Captain Jack Harkness, and you are?"

THE END