"Doctor?"
The Doctor didn't move.
"Is everything alright then?" Jack lay beside the Doctor and fondled him with care.
The Doctor turned his aside. His throat felt sore, his back hurt and he had hoped he'd never have woken up ever again. Or at least, that if he was doomed to wake, that it wouldn't be as painful as it was right now.

"Please Doctor" Jack snuggled up to him and stroked him tenderly "Tell me what's happened."
"Nothing happened" replied the Doctor voiceless. It was still dark. It must still be night, he mused.
"What's happened in your Tardis?" asked Jack and searched his gaze irritated "you said that there had been someone else. Who did you see? What did you...?"
"Jack" the Doctor cut him off hoarsely "please. I'm tired. And I don't want to talk about it. I'm not feeling well. Please, let me have a good night's rest. We shall see to it all tomorrow, alright? You can have a look at the Tardis, you can do whatever you consider necessary, but please Jack..." tears welled up in the Doctors eyes as he pressed his face against the face of his friend "Please let me sleep."

Jack nodded and caressed the Doctor's bruised body until he had made sure that he was fast asleep again. He had dared to take a look at the Doctor while he had been asleep. Now he felt assured that he never should have done it.
The Doctor's body looked as if he'd been tortured cruelly. Someone must have performed the most atrocious acts on him.
Jack felt horrible because he knew that there was nothing he could do.
The Doctor refused to talk to him about it. And he regenerated and healed his own wounds slowly. Very slowly, in fact...

Jack rested his head on the Doctor's shoulder. He should have stayed; he reproached himself over and over again.
He should have stayed; and possibly even given him the ring.
He never should have left the Doctor's side. He shouldn't have left him afterwards, after the act of sex; he knew the Doctor was always weak and vulnerable after he was finished with him; sex was something to drain a Time Lord's powers, assumed Jack.

Jack rubbed his face against the soft but bruised skin on the Doctor's chest. He kissed him fondly and fell asleep while blaming himself for the Doctor's injuries again and again.

The Doctor waited in front of the Tardis. He'd refused to get back in there; and he wasn't even willing to do so while being accompanied by Jack. He simply didn't want to. And Jack couldn't convince him to change his mind. The Doctor leaned against the Tardis stubbornly.

"Found anything so far?" he shouted through the open door.
"I've just reached the third floor" Jack's distant reply sounded muffled.
"Just wait till you get to the basement" yelled the Doctor and sighed.
It was stupid. He knew it was stupid. There couldn't be anyone in his Tardis. There simply couldn't be! And he couldn't remember having an operating table...
He breathed in deeply and tried to relax.

It would have been a massive understatement to say that the Doctor didn't feel comfortable.
The only thing he kept wondering about right now was why he hadn't started running yet.
He had to get away. He felt it.
He had to get out of here.

"I'm in the basement now" there was a hollow whisper from deep down below.
"There are still two subbasements" replied the Doctor and folded his arms.
What's taking Jack so long? , he asked himself. Why can't he just return? He won't find anything anyway.
There was nobody inside of the Tardis.
And he tried to deny the fact that there had been anyone inside with him.
Who had forced him down onto the floor. Who had touched him...

"I'm afraid there's nothing inside" Jack arrived at the main floor of the Tardis again.
The Doctor shrugged."I told you so" he mumbled, intensifying his grip on his own elbows.
He felt weak. He felt horrible.
And he felt like he would never enter the Tardis ever again.
He just couldn't... he just couldn't think about it anymore.

"Well, of course there's a lot of unnecessary gimmick inside, and innumerable books and..." Jack went on but got cut off by the Doctor.
"Jack" he managed to get out in a low voice; the Doctor was holding back his tears constantly "Jack there was someone in my Tardis. And I don't want to talk about what happened, and I don't want you to question me about it and it won't do you any good to ask questions at all. I'm telling you all I can..." His voice cracked and he continued a trifle quieter "And I just want you to be close to me."
He sobbed and wiped away the tears, staring at his feet shamefaced.

Jack watched him with unbelieving eyes. Then he wrapped his arms around him and held him tight.

"You're safe now" Jack tried to appease him.
"No, I'm not" sniffed the Doctor "there had been someone in my Tardis. Someone had entered the Tardis, Jack! Someone had managed to get in. I don't know how and I don't know why..." his voice trailed off again.
"Nothing's gonna harm you" Jack remained calm; his voice was soothing "and I'm gonna look after you. No one's gonna hurt you ever again."

The Doctor burst into tears and pressed his face against Jack's chest.

"I can't tell you, Jack" he managed to get out while crying "I just can't..."
"I don't expect it from you" reassured him Jack "and you don't have to worry about that. I'm not going to ask you anything. I'm not waiting for you to talk about it. We'll simply do it your way, alright? You know what's best for yourself..."

Dying, came to the Doctor's mind at first, and start running and never stop.

"You can stay with me as long as you want to" repeated Jack, and said it as persuading as he'd said it the night before "I never mind having you around."

The Doctor nodded silently. He sniffed and locked up the Tardis, before making it invincible.
"You don't mind it standing around here, near Torchwood?" asked the Doctor and wiped his face.
Jack shook his head promptly. "As long as no one's gonna bump their nose on it..."
"It doesn't work like this" replied the Doctor quietly and tried to smile.

He had a hard time smiling. It hurt. Everything on his body seemed to hurt. His skin felt as if someone had peeled it off the flesh and stapled it back to his body with the wrong side up.
It tingled all over.

Jack guided the Doctor back into the small side room, next door to his office.
The Doctor didn't look well at all.
In fact he looked as if he'd collapse any minute now.

Jack fluffed up his pillow. The Doctor sat down on the side of a bed and pressed his hands against his stomach.
His skin had healed quickly. But his internal organs still seemed to be arranged incorrectly. It felt as if someone had tried to push his stomach deeper into his ribcage. And he wasn't convinced that he hadn't been eviscerated either.

Jack took a quick glance at him out of the corner of his eyes. The Doctor lay down immediately.

Jack sighed and clapped his hands together. "I guess you'd like to have some rest then..." he mumbled and walked towards the door.

"Jack."

The Doctor's frightened whispering of his name caused the blood in his veins to freeze.
He turned around to face him; he was startled at the helplessness conveyed by his voice.
He moved to the Doctor's side quickly and grasped his hands. His eyes met the tired eyes of the Time Lord instantly.

He sat down on the side of the bed.

"Jack" the Doctor tried to speak quietly in order not to cry out loud; his eyes gazed into Jack's hopelessly "Jack, tell me that everything's gonna be fine. Tell me that it's over, Jack! Please Jack, make me believe in your words and tell me that it's over! Please, tell me that it's over."

Jack was too shocked about the black despair of the Doctor to reply.

And the Doctor started crying as Jack embraced him quietly.

He couldn't manage to lie to him.

And the Doctor knew that it had only just begun...