Chapter 10: A Death, A Revival, and Feelings

I don't own Doctor Who or Torchwood whatsoever BBC does, and I'm just a fan with an idea. Excuse the language from here on out.

RECAP: "You're in charge, Owen? You've gotta have significantly bigger balls." Jack said. He stood up and Owen shot him in the head. Gwen and I screamed as Jack fell backward, his eyes wide open as he hit the floor with a thud. Tears streamed down my cheeks as Owen fired several more times at Jack. I fell to my knees by Jack's side, crying. I knew he could come back to life, but it did not make his death hurt any less. I stared at him waiting for him to breathe once more like I knew he could.

"I'm sick of people doubting me." Owen said. Ianto fell to his knees next to me at Jack's side. Toshiko gasped.

"What have you done?" Ianto said looking at Owen shocked. Gwen slowly took the gun from Owen who was shaking. I slowly got up and punched Owen as hard as I could before collapsing back down at Jack's side sobbing. He had better come back.

Avery's POV

Owen, Tosh, Ianto, and Gwen all scanned their retina prints. I got up and said "Even though I don't condone what we're doing, and I still think this is a stupid idea. I'll put in my print as well, not completely sure if it'll need mine." I scanned mine in.

Owen looked at Gwen "We've still got to do Jack's." She said. Owen picked up Jack's dead body and opened the eyelid and scanned the retina print into the computer. The computer ran through all of our retina prints, Gwen typed in the commands and a messaged appeared: AUTHORISATION COMPLETE. INSTITUTE EMERGENCY PROTOCOL ONE? WARNING PROTOCOL ACTIVATION WILL ENDANGER TORCHWOOD INFRASTRUCTURE. Gwen looked back at us, and then stopped on Rhys' body on the table in the cold storage. She hit ENTER. The Klaxon alarm blared as everyone stood around looking at one another. Alarms continued to blare and light flashed as I could faintly hear the Weevils going wild in their cages and our Roman in his cage yelling. Everyone stood around waiting for something to happen. Jack growls and grabbed Gwen's leg, she screamed.

"Oh, my god!" Owen shouted in surprise. Jack saw the turmoil in the hub.

"What have you done?" He asked weakly, I knelt down and hugged him tightly.

Gwen turned around and saw electrical charges ramping up the base of the water tower, before a stream of energy ran from the ground on up through the water tower.

"Come on. Move, move, move, move, move!" Someone said, as Gwen and I tried to move Jack. Ianto stopped to help us.

"Help us move him!" Gwen said, the conference room glass shattered.

All of us headed for the doors. "Gwen!" Tosh yelled

"Come on!" Owen added. Owen got the doors open as the walls around us crumbled to pieces. I grabbed Jack's jacket off the coat rack as we passed it. Pieces of the ceiling collapse in the hub. Tosh led us out the doors.

"Go! Come on!" Someone said again as an overhead support beam broke and fell onto the workstations as I looked back at the hub.

Owen and Tosh ran ahead of us to outside, Ianto and Gwen were supporting Jack between them, who was staggering and leaning heavily on them, as his legs could not support him. I was following behind everyone holding Jack's coat. "Keep moving!" Owen yelled.

"It's going to be all right, Jack. Everything is going to go back to normal." Gwen said to Jack. Suddenly Owen and Tosh stopped running. Gwen let Jack go, and I took her place in supporting him, as she walked towards Bilis who was standing in front of us. His beady black eyes stared back at us.

"From out of the darkness, he is come." He said, I had no clue what he was talking about.

"What is he talking about?" Gwen vocalizing the question I was sure we all had.

"Son of the Great Beast, cast out before time, chained in rock and imprisoned beneath the rift."

"What?!" Gwen said Bilis' gaze rose high above our heads as he looked at something behind us.

I turned my head just as he said, "All hail Abaddon, the Great Devourer." Gwen and Owen turned around. "Come to feast on life." We could see in the distance, a gigantic horned beast approaching the city, reminding me heavily of Godzilla. The beast roared. The earth shook with every step it took. Car alarms go off as the road shudders. And we stared at the beast we let loose upon the earth as the beast roared again. "The whole world shall die beneath his shadow." Bilis said. The beast leaned down and growled, before turning and heading for the city. Bilis looked proudly at the beast he manipulated us into releasing. "I look upon you, my god, and know my work is done." Bilis vanished.

Gwen turned around looking at all the dead bodies around us littering the street. The place was quiet. Gwen went back to Jack, who was leaning more on Ianto than me. "How do we stop it? Tell me what to do, Jack." Gwen asked Jack, who looked at everyone before settling his gaze on Gwen.

"Just you... get me to an open space." Jack answered. Gwen went to grab Jack, pulling his arm over her shoulders about to leave us behind. I knew what he was about to do. He had told me this story before, though he had never mentioned me. I would be breaking rule number one of time-travel, don't interfere with fixed points in time. Well, I say screw it, Jack mattered more than the whole of space and time now. I knew if I did what I was about to do, I might not be able to return.

"Don't you dare Jack." I said seriously, grabbing both of their shoulders. "I know what you're about to do. You are not sacrificing yourself to this beast. We aren't sure you're even going to return this time! Do we even know the limits to your revivals, how many times you can die before actually dying? I'm not letting you do this, or so help me that version of me you see in the future won't exist anymore. I'll go sacrifice myself before you can."

"Avery... You can't. It has to be me." Jack let go of Gwen a bit, turning towards me and grabbing my face as he looked into my eyes. "You haven't even started the great things you'll do. You've gotten your Doctor back; you have a great destiny ahead of you intertwined with his. If you do this now, that will not exist. And what is about to happen, will be for nothing if you can't save the universe in the future. You have to admit that." I although a bit begrudged, nodded in admittance. I had to let him do it. I grabbed his other arm and helped Gwen to the SUV. There was no way I was letting them go without me.

Gwen stopped the SUV and Jack got out, he was exhausted I could tell. He hadn't fully recovered from dying yet. Gwen ran out after him. "What are you gonna do?" She asked

"If Abaddon is the bringer of death, let's see how he does with me. If he feeds on life, then I'm an all-you-can-eat-buffet." He answered.

She grabbed his jacket from me and tried to stop him. I rolled my eyes following them. She hadn't caught on when I had tried to do the same. And I was apparently The Great Avery, the one who knew things and Jack generally listened to. "No, wait! Wait, you're too weak!" She yelled at him. The beast stomped through the city around us. Jack pried her hands off his jacket, his eyes on the beast in front of them. I walked forward pulling Gwen back a bit, she was crying.

"Get out of here!" Jack said, as he pushed us away. "GO!" He turned and continued up the road leaving us behind. "Drive as fast as you can."

"Jack." Gwen said, though I had a solid hold on her in case she decided to follow him. I knew he had to do this without worrying about either of us.

"Bring it on!" Jack shouted as he stopped on top of the hill, turning to face the beast, who stopped and turned to face Jack. The beast roared and started towards Jack, who stood his ground waiting for the beast. The beast's shadow covered the ground, though when it reached Jack, it stopped, the edge of the shadow on Jack unable to move past him. Jack started to scream in agony though he didn't die. The beast loomed over him, the shadow still stopped in its tracks. Jack continued to scream in pain. I wanted to run over there to help him. But I knew that would mean immediate death, so Gwen and I watched helplessly from the roadside. The beast roared as the life essence inside Jack was sucked out of his body in a long, continuous stream of light. Jack screamed. The beast roared, the light hit the beast breaking it apart from the inside. The beast fell to its knees, unable to stop the light as it fell onto the ground in front of Jack. Jack fell backwards onto the ground, unconscious. Gwen and I ran up to Jack, falling to our knees beside him. I moved his head onto my legs as Gwen held the rest of his lifeless body in her arms and cried. I felt tears stream down my face as I brushed his hair out of his face. I knew this would happen. I just had to hope that he would prove me wrong and come back.

Gwen had gone back to her apartment. And I stayed with Jack in the morgue, waiting. Everyone else joined me in the evening, gathering around his body as I stared at it, he was deathly pale. His body was on the morgue table in a white body bag. The cabinet door is open at his feet. Everyone was quiet.

"You're certain?" Gwen asked Owen

"He's ice cold. No vital signs." He answered

"He survived when you shot him. When I first joined, he said he couldn't die."

"He was wrong."

"I want to sit with him."

"Gwen..."

"I want to sit with him." Gwen said. She gently stroked the side of Jack's face, as Owen nodded and left with Tosh following behind him. I felt Ianto kiss the side of my head before also leaving. Gwen and I stayed with Jack's body.

Gwen ended up leaning against the morgue cabinets, her arms crossed as she leaned her head back as she waited a half hour after everyone left.

She even leaned close over Jack's body a few minutes later telling him to wake up.

A few more minutes later she smoothed the gown on Jack's chest and straightened the body bag wrapped around him. And then she started to pace as she after she was done straightening the body bag. I was starting to get annoyed at Gwen's impatience though I stayed quiet.

An hour of pacing later, Gwen sat in the corner on the floor before standing up looking at Jack and whispering Jack.

Third Person's POV

The others watched Gwen moving around on the monitors while Avery just sat there staring at Jack. They were at the workstations

"How long is she gonna do this?" Owen asked. Ianto and Owen looked at each other as Tosh continued to watch the monitor, where Gwen sat next to the body smoothing Jack's gown over his chest again.

In Jack's Office, Ianto was straightening the papers on Jack's desk. He sniffled as he walked over to the coat rack, removing Jack's coat and pressed it to his face as he cried.

Avery's POV

I had written everything that happened so far here, as well everything that had happened during my excursion with The Doctor and Amy on the TARDIS, with the Atraxi and Prisoner Zero as well the Star Whale. It had been days since he died fighting Abaddon. Gwen sat next to Jack, with Tosh standing next to Gwen.

"It's been days." Tosh said to us, we didn't respond. "We have to face up to it. He's not coming back."

"I believe in him." Gwen responded.

"Let him go, Gwen. It would be a good idea if you did so too Avery." Tosh said before leaving. I shook my head in refusal. I was not going to stop believing, I had believed in that the Doctor would return to me for 12 years before he did and then leaving again for 2 more. I was not about stop now, my sister was the girl who waited and so was I. Gwen tilted her head as she looked at Jack. She got up and picked his hand up, holding his hand against her cheek closing her eyes. A few moments of her doing that, before she leaned close to Jack and kissing him. She turned and started walking away.

A voice spoke, one that we had not heard in days. "Thank you." I looked at Jack who was awake, I grinned before doing a happy dance. Gwen gasped and smiled as she rushed back to Jack to find him awake. Jack smiled at her.

After Jack had gotten dressed, Gwen and him walked into the Hub, while I skipped with happiness behind them. Ianto and Tosh were cleaning up the hub. Tosh reached out to remove a machine part and looked up to see us entered the hub. Her eyes widen and she ran across to Jack. They hugged. I yelled Ianto's name to get his attention. He stood up and looked at us before walking over to Jack. He awkwardly held his hand out, but Jack grabbed him and they hug. Owen stepped into the hub to see Jack and Ianto hug and kiss. Owen put the kit he's carrying down on the floor with a thud. Jack walked over to him.

"I..." Owen said

"I forgive you." Jack replied. Owen nodded as Jack grabbed him and held Owen as he cried. I hugged Ianto in celebration of Jack's revival. Gwen, Tosh, and us watched Jack and Owen quietly.

The next day I was typing on the workstation as Jack and Gwen talked in his office. Ianto, Owen, and Tosh went out to get coffees, they had offered me to join them, but I had decline. I had to figure out how to get back to my time. Jack walked out of the office, Gwen remaining behind in the office. "Where are they with those coffees?" He asked, and I shrugged. A machine beeps; Jack stopped and looked at the hand in the tank. The hand was pulsing.

I got up from the workstation and joined him as we checked on the hand. We stopped in front of it and he smiled at both it and me. We stared at it and waited, I knew what was going on. It was the return of the Doctor. We heard the most glorious sound, an ancient grinding sounds of the TARDIS engine. An unnatural wind blew in the hub, ruffling our hair. We looked at each other smiling with joy before looking to the side.

Jack picked up the tank with the hand and ran out of the Hub. I ran after him. We saw the TARDIS just about to leave, and Jack jumped onto the side of the TARDIS. I stopped, I couldn't do that. I might not survive the trip. I smiled to myself though as Jack and the TARDIS disappeared. Jack had found his Doctor. I ought to be able to return to mine. I put my hand on my vortex manipulator closing my eyes, letting the TARDIS pull me to her as my fingers involuntarily started typing in coordinates.

Before I knew it, I was back in the wardrobe of the TARDIS. I grinned. I got changed into a different outfit than this. I changed into converse, black tights, denim shorts, and a loose gray graphic t-shirt with a picture of the Eiffel Tower on the front. I tied my hair into a loose braid as I walked out of the wardrobe. Heading to the console room, where I had a feeling that was where the Doctor and Amy were.

I walked into the console room as Amy and the Doctor rushed into the TARDIS, the Doctor holding an old box. I walked towards them, and said "Uh... what's going on? And what's that?"

The Doctor looked sharply up at me in surprise, and said, "You've been gone awhile..." Returning to hooking up the box to the console.

"I got lost." I lied partially. Truthfully I did get lost, in time...

"That's a home box Avery." Amy answered me. "Why are we doing this?" She asked the Doctor.

"Cos someone on a space ship 12,000 years ago is trying to attract my attention. Let's see if we can get the security playback working." He answered.

Grainy black and white footage of a woman winking at the camera appeared on the monitor, it then switched to the woman with her back to the camera facing a door.

"The party's over, Doctor Song. Yet still you're on board." A man said. Doctor Song turned to face him.

"Sorry, Alistair. I needed to see what was in your vault. Do you all know what's down there? Any of you? Because I'll tell you something. This ship won't reach its destination." She replied.

"Wait till she runs. Don't make it look like an execution." Alistair ordered someone, I was assuming guards.

"Triple-seven, five, zero, twelve, slash, acorn. Oh, and I could do with an air corridor." She said looking at her watch and back up at Alistair. The Doctor, Amy, and I exchanged a look before the Doctor began to type on the keyboard.

"What was that, what did she say?" Amy asked

"Co-ordinates!" Both the Doctor and I answered, he smiled at me. I guess he was glad I was back, or maybe he didn't really miss me while I was gone. He had Amy after all... people liked her more in the end.

"Like I said on the dance floor, you might want to find something to hang on to!" The woman on the monitor said, as a timer began to beep frantically, Alistair realized what was about to happen and grabbed hold of one of the pipes on the wall. She blew a kiss just before the door behind blew open and she is carried into space towards the TARDIS that was materializing. The Doctor whooped before running to open the TARDIS doors. He reached out and pulled the woman from the monitor into the TARDIS, and they both landed on the floor.

"Doctor?" Amy and I questioned

"River?" Doctor said. He and River stood and watched the ship fly away.

"Follow that ship." River commanded. I gave her a look, she seemed familiar as though I knew her once upon a time. Though I also had a strange feeling in the pit of my stomach as I watched the two of them. Almost like jealousy. But that couldn't be true. I couldn't have feelings for the Doctor. But I could, but I was hiding things, things that could hurt the Doctor if he found out at the wrong time. I groaned as I realized that I did and there was nothing I could do.

I liked The Doctor, and this could get interesting.

To Be Continued in: The Time of Angels