Danielle didn't want to sit near Jack, but all of the other chairs were near the patients and she didn't really want to sit by them either. The fact that whatever had infected them spread through touch, though, made it a very easy choice and she found herself sat by a very confident Jack in the middle of the room.

He chucked his feet up onto the table in front of them, leaning back in his chair. "You do have an exciting life, don't ya Danni-Girl?"

"Don't call me that," she grumbled slightly. "My name's Danielle."

"For everyone else, yeah," he teased in reply. Her cheeks seemed to be in a continuous state of warmth, but it wasn't because she was flattered. She knew that she should have been fully focused on what was happening around them, but she still felt incredibly slighted by his fake flirting.

The Doctor crossed his arms, feeling rather annoyed at everything. He still didn't understand what had happened to the child and the rest of the patients, and he really didn't appreciate the way that Jack was looking over at Danielle. Or the way that she seemed to be sitting rather close to him. "How was your con supposed to work?" he asked shortly.

"Simple enough, really. Find some harmless piece of space junk, let the nearest Time Agent track it back to Earth, convince him it's valuable, name a price," Jack explained. "When he's put fifty percent up front, oops! A German bomb falls on it, destroys it forever. He never gets to see what he's paid for, never knows he's been had. I buy him a drink with his own money, and we discuss dumb luck. The perfect self-cleaning con."

Danielle snorted. "Some perfect," she said snidely.

"The London Blitz is great for self-cleaners," Jack explained, as if he was describing vacations spots. "Pompeii's nice if you want to make a vacation of it though, but you've got to set your alarm for volcano day." He laughed slightly before looking around at the group. No one seemed to be particularly pleased with his joke. "Getting a hint of disapproval."

"Take a look around the room. This is what your harmless piece of space-junk did," the Doctor said, trying to keep his anger in check.

"It was a burnt-out medical transporter. It was empty," Jack retorted defensively.

The Doctor just glared at him before turning around. "Danielle! Rose!" he called to his two friends, storming out of the room.

Rose was quick to follow. "Are we getting out of here?" she asked him.

"We're going upstairs," the Doctor replied as he turned around the corner.

Danielle didn't follow straight away and Jack really seemed to be happy that she wasn't moving. "You believe me, don't you Danni-Girl?"

Danielle tilted her head to the side, looking him over. She didn't want to believe him at all, but he seemed genuinely convinced of his argument. Then again he was a conman, and she had been pretty convinced he was flirting with her despite that fact he wasn't attracted to her at all.

"I think you thought it was empty," she replied slowly. "But it obviously wasn't and you're trying to shift the blame onto someone else." She stood up. "The Doctor is trying to clean up your mess, you could be a little more grateful about it."

"I even programmed the flight computer so it wouldn't land on anything living. I harmed no-one. I don't know what's happening here, but believe me, I had nothing to do with it," Jack insisted.

"And you genuinely believe that," Danielle countered. "But look around you. How can you deny anything has happened?"

"I'm not denying that," he countered. "It's nothing to do with me."

She pulled an incredulous look, nose wrinkling in distain. "You know, I know you flirted with me just to get some information on a seller. I get that, it's the kind of man you are. But saving your own skin over all these people, over all the children here, is just low." She turned away from him. "I'm going after the Doctor, and he'll find a way to fix all this. He'll stop anyone else getting hurt because that's what he does."

Jack was pretty stunned as she walked out after the other man. Not because she had practically shouted at him; she was shy but it was always the quiet ones who had the most passion. But because he actually felt like he cared. Jack Harkness had cared about very little in quite a while, apart from conning Time Agents until he found a way to get his memories back, but for some reason he could feel it starting to bubble up inside of him.

Of course he cared about other people. He didn't want anyone to die, he just didn't like to be blamed for stuff that wasn't his fault. For some reason it felt very important that he convinced her of this. He wasn't sure why, but it was what got him out of the chair and following her.

~0~0~0~

The Doctor had paused the moment he'd realised Danielle wasn't following him. He crossed his arms over his chest, feeling increasingly more agitated as Rose watched on with a strange, amused smile on her face.

"What?" he asked.

She just shook her head. "If you don't see it then I can't show you," she had replied, which meant absolutely nothing to the Doctor and just agitated him even more.

He was seriously considering taking Rose home – he didn't have time for cryptic companions, that was his job – when Danielle finally caught up with them. She didn't look pleased and he definitely thought it was because of the strangeness of the trip, not because of Jack Harkness who deserved her ire completely.

"What took you so long?" he asked her.

"Not all of us had long legs like you," she countered. She could hear Jack's footsteps behind her, but they were overshadowed by the sound of another siren going off. It surprised her and she reached out, grabbing hold of the Doctor's arm.

"What's that?" she and Rose asked in tandem.

"The all clear," Jack reassured her. The Doctor shot him a look, as if he was disappointed he was being that naïve.

"I wish," he murmured. He grabbed Danielle's hand, making sure she stayed right behind him this time instead of following pretty American captains about. He led her up a couple of flights of stairs, losing both Jack and Rose for a moment.

He spotted the heavy metal door that indicated exactly where he wanted to go. It was locked, obviously, and he could have easily unlocked it with his screwdriver. In fact, Danielle pointed that out.

"I know," he replied. "Let's find out what your new friend can actually do." He left her stood in front of the door, baffled at why he seemed so offended by Jack. He dipped his head over the banister of the stairs they'd just run up, spotting the pair. "Do you have a blaster?" he called down to Jack.

"Sure!" Jack replied, confused. The pair were quickly up at door with Danielle and the Doctor.

"The night your space-junk landed, someone was hurt," the Doctor explained. "This was where they were taken."

Danielle frowned. "Into a steel-barricaded room?" she asked. The Doctor nodded.

"We're going to find out why," he said before motioning to the door. "Get it open."

Jack grinned, pulling out his sonic blaster and pointing it at the door. The Doctor watched him closely, almost willing it to not work. However, with a high-tech buzz, the blaster made the entire lock disappear. It left a square hole in the door, but there was no sign the lock had ever been there in the first place.

The Doctor had to admit that he was a little impressed. And he liked a good bit of tech. "Sonic blaster, fifty first century. Weapon Factories of Villengard?" he asked Jack.

"You've been to the factories?" Jack asked as the Doctor took it off him, turning it over in his hands.

"Once."

"Well, they gone now, destroyed," Jack said. "The main reactor went critical. Vaporized the lot."

The Doctor looked back up at him. "Like I said. Once," he replied before handing the blaster back. "There's a banana grove there, now," he told the trio, a happy smile on his face. "I like bananas. Bananas are good."

Danielle wrinkled her nose. "We've been through this," she replied. "Bananas are gross. The only use for them in banana bread." She glanced up at Jack as she walked into the room after the Doctor. "That blaster's pretty cool," she admitted begrudgingly.

Jack took it, though, with a smile. Rose suddenly felt like she was being left out of something, and she wasn't particularly fond of it. The Doctor and Danielle were bad enough – pretending that they weren't being all coy and showing off to each other – but Jack watched the red-head go into the next room like he was looking for her approval.

"Nice blast pattern," she spoke up.

"Digital," Jack replied as if that explained everything.

"Squareness gun?" she replied and he nodded. "I like it."

The smirk he sent her way let her know that she still had it, which was all she was wanting. She followed the other to inside.

The room was split in two, with a large glass window and a door keeping the side they'd walked into separate from the other side. The window was smashed, knocking the equipment that sat underneath it over.

Danielle was turning slowly, looking around at all the furniture and the filing cabinets whilst the Doctor walked over to a large tape recorder by the window.

"This is really grim," Danielle commented sadly. "It was a child, wasn't it?" Through the window she could see the drawings that were pinned all around the room. She'd heard the calls for 'mummy' from the patients. It was horrible.

"Whatever it was, it was powerful," Jack replied lowly. "Powerful and angry."

He and Rose stepped into the other side of the room, but Danielle didn't move from her place just by the door. The Doctor glanced behind him at her. She was realising just what her American friend had done.

"Are you alright?" he asked, concerned at the upset appearing on her face. She shook her head.

"Poor child," she whispered. He couldn't agree more. He reached over and pressed 'play' on the tape machine.

"Do you know where you are?" Dr Constantine asked, sounding cold and clinical.

"Are you my mummy?" a child replied.

"Are you aware of what's around you? Can you see?"

"Are you my mummy?"

Danielle felt herself tearing up. "That's a little boy," she said. "The-the bomb fell on a little boy?"

"Is that Nancy's brother?" Rose asked the Doctor. He met her gaze, looking solemn. "He always asks for him mummy. Why doesn't he know?"

The Doctor didn't reply, though. He started to pace around the room, a look of discomfort on his face as he tried to home in on what was wrong. Danielle sniffed, wiping her tears away. "What's-What's wrong?" she asked.

"Can you sense it?" the Doctor asked them all instead of replying. His voice rose and his pacing quickened.

"Mummy?" the child continued to call.

"Sense what?" Jack asked.

"Coming out of the walls. Can you feel it?" He paused to look at the three confused humans in the room, all looking to him for an answer. "Funny little human brains. How do you get around in those things?" he asked, thoroughly amused by them.

Danielle's eyes narrowed. "Oi, Spaceman!" she said in warning.

"When he's stressed, he likes to insult species," Rose quickly explained. The Doctor didn't appreciate it but she ignored him. "He cuts himself shaving, he does half an hour on life forms he's cleverer than."

The Doctor stopped in his tracks. "There are these children living rough round the bomb sites. They come out during air-raids looking for food," he explained.

Danielle frowned, a flicking noise catching her attention. She slowly walked towards it, towards the Doctor who was deep in his own thoughts. He was working through what his mind was throwing to him, and she understood that, but as she peered over the ledge of the broken window to see the tape spinning, the end hitting the empty reel she knew that he needed to stop.

"Doctor?" she called.

"Suppose they were there when this thing, whatever it was, landed?" the Doctor continued.

"Mummy!" The voice sounded closer this time, less like it was coming through tin speakers but no one seemed to notice but her.

"Doctor!" she tried again.

"It was a med-ship. It was harmless," Jack insisted.

"Yes, you keep saying harmless," the Doctor dismissed. "Suppose one of them was affected, altered?"

"Altered how?" Rose asked. Danielle only glanced up at the Doctor for a moment, her attention was only drawn away for a moment, but it was enough.

"I'm here!"

"It's afraid. Terribly afraid and powerful," the Doctor replied. "It doesn't know it yet, but it will do." He grinned, finding some grim humour in the situation. "It's got the power of a god, and I just sent it to its room."

"Doctor!" Danielle cried. He looked at her to see her looking back out into the room in terror. His first thought, one that startled him immensely, was to get her away from whatever was scaring her as fast as possible rather than finding out what it was. He wanted to grab her, pull her behind him and protect her and then work out what the threat was, which felt like the wrong way.

He turned around and saw a little boy stood on the other side of the room, gasmask and shorts on. "This is its room," he finished.

He stepped back, towards Danielle who immediately reached out for him.

"What do we do?" she whispered. "He's scared, but I don't wanna be like him."

"Okay, on my signal make for the door," Jack whispered, reaching in for his gun. "Now!"

He pulled out what he thought was his gun and put it over the Doctor's shoulder. Instead what he held was a banana, which he could only stare at in surprise as the Doctor pulled out his blaster. Sharing a grin with Danielle, the Doctor pointed it at the wall and opened up a hole.

"Go now!" he commanded, still in charge. "Don't drop the banana!"

He practically shoved Danielle towards the hole and Rose quickly followed after her. "What is it with you and bananas?" the red-head asked.

"Good source of potassium!"

Jack grabbed the blaster when they got on the other side, sealing the hole back up. "Nice switch," he told the Doctor.

"It's from the groves of Villengard. I thought it was appropriate," he replied.

"There's really a banana grove in the heart of Villengard and you did that?" he asked incredulously.

"Bananas are good," the Doctor said happily.

Danielle screamed as the wall cracked as the child tried to smash its way through the wall. The Doctor grabbed her hand. "Come on!"

None of them needed telling twice. They all ran down the hallway, away from the terrifying child, and straight towards a group of patients.

"Mummy. Mummy. Mummy."

They turned, heading down another hallway just be confronted by another group of patients, all looking for their mummy like something out of a horror movie. The entire time they'd been in London felt like some strange horror movie.

They were soon cornered back where they'd run from, with the child beating its way through the wall in front of them and patients advancing on both sides. Danielle held onto the Doctor's hand tightly. She was going to die. She was going to die in World War 2 at the hands of a terrified yet powerful child, and her own mum would never know. She didn't want to die here. She didn't want to die yet.

The Doctor could feel her terror and it was fuelling his own panic. He needed to save them all and reassure her, but he had nothing. "It's keeping us here till it can get at us," he said, looking down both hallways as he tried to figure out something he could do.

"It's controlling them?" Jack asked, trying to point his blaster down each hallway, also trying to work about the best way to attack.

"It is them. It's every living thing in this hospital."

"Okay," Jack replied with a nod. "This can function as a sonic blaster, a sonic cannon, and as a triple-enfolded sonic disrupter. Doc, what you got?"

The Doctor held up his screwdriver. "I've got a sonic…" He glanced at his faithful tool. He loved his sonic screwdriver, it had helped him out many times over the years and he was strangely attached to it, but it was no sonic blaster. There wasn't anything it could really do in an attack. It could get him out of anywhere, unlock almost any lock, but stopping a child with super strength and its own homemade army? "Oh, never mind."

Jack didn't take his eyes off the enemy. "What?"

"It's sonic, okay? Let's leave it at that," the Doctor snapped. The Captain was in a much better position to save them, even he had to admit that. He didn't want to admit, though, that he didn't want Danielle to see the screwdriver and think about how better Jack's weapon was. It was a little humiliating. It felt like contest he hadn't known he'd entered but he wanted to win anyway.

"Disrupter? Cannon? What?" Jack pressed. He needed to know what he had to hand. He needed all the facts to make the best call in their rather desperate situation.

"It's sonic! Totally sonic! I am soniced up!"

"A sonic what?!"

The Doctor turned around, holding his screwdriver up in front of him. "Screwdriver!"

Before Jack could even look at him in disbelief, the child broke free and the patients began advancing. Danielle took a step closer to Doctor as he moved forward, holding the sonic screwdriver up like a sword. "What are we going to do?" she cried.

Rose didn't even really think about it. They'd gotten out of the room using the blaster, and as that was all they had of any use they had to use it again. Behind them was a window and a rather large drop, to their sides were the many patients trying to turn them into creatures like them and in front of them was the child. There was only one way to go.

She grabbed Jack's wrist, pointing it and the blaster down. "Going down!"

The Doctor didn't have much time to think either. He just turned as the floor disappeared from underneath them and pulled Danielle close as they fell through the ceiling of the floor below, landing in a heap.

He groaned heavily at the extra weight but didn't let her go, even when she shifted to stare down at him, eyes wide. She panted lightly as the adrenaline pumped through her and at the sudden, rather close proximity they were to each other. He was so close, looking back up at her with a look she didn't really understand.

"Thank-Thank you," she said quietly. Her mouth felt dry. She wanted to close the gap.

"Oh, we don't have time for this," Rose declared, grabbing Danielle by the arm and dragging her off the top of him. "We need lights."

The Doctor sat up slowly, watching her be dragged away by Rose, his own hearts pounding wildly. He hadn't thought about it. He'd just wanted to catch her, to make sure she didn't get hurt. He felt the same for Rose, of course, but not at that intensity. Perhaps it had been a bad idea to bring her along.

He jumped off the floor as Rose flicked the light switch, illuminating the patients who all sat up in their beds. "Mummy. Mummy."

Jack looked around for their exit, pointing to a set of double doors on the other side of the room. "Door." They all rushed towards it, Jack trying to open it with his blaster. It whirred to life, then quickly powered down. "Damn it!" Realising that it wasn't going to work, the Doctor took over. "It's the special features. They really drain the battery."

"The battery?" Rose echoed as the door opened and they rushed inside. The Doctor slammed the door shut behind them and quickly soniced it to lock it. "That's so lame," Rose continued.

"I was going to send for another one, but somebody's got to blow up the factory," Jack replied pointedly.

"Oh, I know. First day I met him, he blew my job up. That's practically how he communicates," Rose muttered in reply.

"He-He found me in the TARDIS," Danielle spoke up quietly. Of course, then she had met a Dalek. It might not have been an explosion, but it hadn't been the most pleasant of experiences. Overall, though, she was so happy that she'd stepped inside that blue box. She wouldn't trade the Doctor for the world. Even if all she could think about was closing that gap.

She played with her hands in front of her, looking at the ground as the Doctor backed away from the door. "Okay, that door should hold it for a bit."

"The door?" Jack exclaimed. "The wall didn't stop it!"

The Doctor looked at Danielle as he walked past. She was obviously concerned. "Well, it's got to find us first!" he pointed out. "Come on, we're not done yet! Assets, assets!"

"Well, I've got a banana, and in a pinch you could put up some shelves," Jack replied sardonically.

The Doctor ignored his attitude. It wasn't helping and he knew Danielle wouldn't appreciate it. In fact, she seemed to barely be paying attention at all. Jack had obviously upset her. "Window?" he asked, hopping up onto a spare table to look outside. If she saw him trying to get them out perhaps she would feel better.

"Barred," Jack retorted as he sat down in a wheelchair, reclining cockily. "Sheer drop outside. Seven stories."

Rose gave the room a glance around. "And no other exits."

"Well, the assets conversation went in a flash, didn't it?" Jack finished.

"Stop it," Danielle scolded, walking over to the chair and standing by it. The Doctor frowned angrily as she rested a hand on the back of the wheelchair.

"Did you have to bring him along?" he asked her.

"I didn't have much of a choice," Danielle replied. "He had me on his ship." Jack held a hand to his heart.

"Hurt, Danni-Girl. I'm actually wounded," he flirted. The Doctor rolled his eyes, trying to ignore Danielle's flushed face. It was always the pretty ones, wasn't it? What was it about humans and good looks?

"Okay," he started pointedly before they could flirt together any more in front of him. He looked back out of the window. "One, we've got to get out of here. Two, we can't get out of here. Have I missed anything?"

"Yeah," Rose spoke up and he looked at her expectantly. "Jack and Danielle just disappeared."

~0~0~0~

"Woah, woah, I've got ya Red."

Danielle stumbled, grabbing onto the first thing she could reach. That happened to be Jack, who grinned a little too happily for her taste. She looked around. One minute she was stood in the dark storage room, watching the door with deep sense of foreboding that they were going to get turned into zombies. Next thing she knew she was…

Actually, she recognised where she was. Her fear disappeared and she pushed off Jack, glaring at him. "Take me back!" she demanded. "Right now!"

Jack sat down in his pilot chair. "I know you're worried…" he started.

"Of course I'm worried!" she cried. "We-We left them there! He's gonna… They're gonna…" She growled, frustrated at the way she couldn't form any words through her panic. "And you just beam us back up onto your bloody ship like it's no big deal!"

"Or thank you, as people say," Jack retorted. "I saved your life and, don't worry, the Doctor and Rose are next." He didn't look at her, instead continuing to type and press buttons on the console. Danielle crossed her arms but, also frustratingly, couldn't help but watch him work. It was really fascinating, all this futuristic tech. If she wasn't so mad at him she would have asked what he was doing.

"Rose? Doctor? Can you hear me?" Jack asked into his comms. "We're back on my ship. Used the emergency teleport. Sorry I couldn't take you, it's security-keyed to mine and Danni-Girl here's molecular structure." Danielle frowned as he continued to try and hack into his own ship. "I'm working on it. Hang in there."

"Danielle's with you?" the Doctor asked, coming through all of the speakers. Danielle moved forwards, towards Jack, placing a hand on his chair, relief causing her to grin. Jack looked up at her and waved his hand, inviting her to talk.

"Y-Yeah, I'm here," she called out. "Are you okay?"

"Fine. Trapped, but fine," the Doctor replied and her hand moved to Jack's arm, squeezing it happily. He could have rolled his eyes. "How're you speaking to us?"

"Om-Com," Jack explained. "I can call anything with a speaker grill."

"Now there's a coincidence."

Jack frowned. "What is?"

"The child can Om-Com too," the Doctor replied. "Anything with a speaker grill. Even the TARDIS phone."

"What, you mean the child can phone us?" Rose replied, incredulous.

"And I can hear you," the child's voice called. Danielle jumped back from the console and Jack moved towards it, working faster. "Coming to find you. Coming to find you."

"Doctor, can you hear that?" Jack asked.

"Loud and clear."

"I'll try to block out the signal. Least I can do," Jack replied. He then looked up at Danielle with a wolfish grin. "Remember this one, Danni-Girl?" he asked. With a flick of a switch Moonlight Serenade began playing and Danielle's cheeks turned a deep red. "I thought you did."

"Danni?" Rose asked and Danielle cleared her through.

"We-Er," she stuttered out, much to Jack's amusement. "It was just a dance!" she replied, embarrassed. "And it was only because you thought I had money." He just raised an eyebrow. "Oh, shut up and save them!"

Jack chuckled as he turned off their feed to the two down in the hospital, leaving the music playing to try and block the signal from the creepy child. Danielle turned away from him, in a huff, but he continued to work like she wasn't absolutely furious at him.

She couldn't help but glance at him, though, as he worked. She could tell he was a good man at heart, she just didn't understand why he wouldn't admit his mistake. They were going to fix it, that was what the Doctor did and Danielle had full faith in him.

"Jack?" she asked, shuffling slightly on the spot.

"What can I do for you, Red?" he asked, spinning his chair around slightly so he could continue working on opening up the teleport even more.

"Why is your teleport coded to my molecular structure?"

"I programmed it to mine a while ago. Sometimes you just need a quick escape. Cons go wrong, people get angry. One night stands can get a little clingy." He looked up just to see her blush at the thought. "I don't know why I added you. I guess, because, I saw something in you that suggested you might want have come along for the ride."

"I'm happy with the Doctor, thanks," Danielle replied a little shortly.

Jack chuckled. "So I can see," he replied. "I guess it was more wishful thinking. You have this spirit in you, one that doesn't just want to sit back and wait." He could tell he was almost finished and his typing increased. "Of course, that was before I realised that you weren't just Time Agents. Had I known what I was getting myself into, I wouldn't have thought myself that lucky to be the one to help you do that."

Danielle couldn't help but smile softly. "That's really sweet," she told him, sitting down on the floor next to his chair. "You're a good person, really, under all that bravado. You should let him out more. I like him better than the guy who tried to get me drunk to sleep with me."

Jack, for some reason, felt rather bad about trying that. He also felt rather happy that she thought he was a good person, even though he had never been looking for her approval. "Nah, he can be fun at times," he told her. "Plus there's still a blonde I could use him on."

She leant forward, smacking his arm as he laughed heartily. "Stop it!" she scolded. "None of that around me. I've told you already."

~0~0~0~

"How did you meet them?" Jack asked. "The Doctor and Rose?"

"I grew up with Rose," Danielle explained, now sitting cross-legged as he worked. "I live in the same block of flats as her. She went missing for a year and, as it turns out, she was with the Doctor."

"He kidnapped her?" Jack asked, brows furrowed. "And that's the guy you want to travel with?"

"He didn't kidnap her," she defended. "He misaimed. Turns out his driving isn't fantastic." She shrugged. "I found his spaceship in the courtyard. I'd never seen anything like her before, so I went to have a nosy around. He invited me along. That's about it really," She leant forward slightly. "What are you doing?"

"Just the finishing touches," he replied. "A couple more little tweaks, a couple little holes to poke at and…" He grinned. "There!"

She grinned too, standing up off the floor. "You're a genius," she praised. "Let's get them here!"

"Gladly," Jack replied. He turned the communication back on, bridging the gap between the two groups.

"Is this you dancing? Because I've got notes," Rose declared as Jack reached forward to tell them all was well. Danielle's hand shot forward, catching his wrist. He turned his head and saw the look on her face; confused, hurt, sad.

"Just-Just a minute," she said softly.

"She fell from a barrage balloon," the Doctor replied, sounding bewildered. "Not a cut, nor a bruise."

"Her top was covered in blood, though," Rose said before sighing audibly. "Captain Jack probably fixed her up."

"Oh, we're calling him Captain Jack now, are we?"

"Well," Rose drawled. "his name's Jack and he's a Captain."

"He's not really a Captain, Rose."

"Do you know what I think?" Rose asked. "I think you're experiencing Captain envy. You'll find your feet at the end of your legs. You may care to move them." Her voice took on a teasing tone, but Danielle didn't find anything about it funny. She wasn't sure why she felt so hurt by it. She and the Doctor… Well, there wasn't any 'she and the Doctor'. She hadn't even known what the feeling she got around him was. But, well… there was always a blonde, wasn't there?

"They're dancing," she whispered softly.

"I'm sure they're just passing time," Jack reassured her. She tried so smile but she couldn't and he hated it. He wasn't sure why, but he grabbed her hand to give it a squeeze. Danielle's grip tightened as he flicked the switched and they appeared, still dancing, like they hadn't noticed.

"If ever he was a Captain, he's been defrocked," the Doctor snapped.

"Yeah? Shame I missed that."

"Actually, I quit. Nobody takes my frock," Jack declared and they both jumped apart like they had been burn. "Most people notice when they've been teleported," he commented. The Doctor looked over at him, starting slightly at the sight of the ship. Then, he realised that the ship didn't bother him at all. Danielle was holding onto his hand tightly, looking like she was upset. Something had happened.

"Sorry about the delay," Jack continued, turning the music off. "I had to take the nav-com offline to override the teleport security."

"You can spend ten minutes overriding your own protocols? Maybe you should remember whose ship it is," the Doctor retorted as he dipped his head, trying to meet Danielle's gaze. "Are you alright?" he asked.

She couldn't help it. The concern on his face made her feel special for the brief moment before she'd looked over at Rose. Then she remembered them dancing, and the horrid feeling of being left to the side. She nodded. "I'm fine," she replied quietly.

The Doctor didn't believe her. Even when she had been worried during their other adventures she hadn't looked so sad. He didn't like it. He didn't know what to say, or what to do though. Humans being emotional wasn't exactly his area of expertise. He vowed to keep an eye on her, especially around the American 'Captain' who was now putting the nav-com online.

"This is a Chula ship," the Doctor said as he looked over the technology.

"Yeah, just like that medical transporter," Jack confirmed. "Only this one is dangerous."

The Doctor snapped his fingers, testing a theory that had been building up in his head since the moment he'd realised that Danielle should have been more injured than she was. The blood on her clothes was disconcerting, but not worrying. He knew that somewhere in the fact that she was now fine was the answer he was looking for.

All around his hand a golden glow appeared, lots of tiny particles zooming all around his hand as they checked him over. Rose moved closer, looking amazed.

"What are they?" she asked.

"Nanogenes," Danielle spoke up. He looked over and saw an intrigue on her face that looked better than the sadness. If he could figure out what was going on, perhaps it would stay away. "They fixed me up when I fell onto the roof. They're pretty amazing."

"Sub-atomic robots," the Doctor explained, a little put out that she already knew what they were. "There's millions of them in here, see? Burned my hand on the console when we landed. All better now. They activate when the bulk head's sealed. Check you out for damage, fix any physical flaws." With a flick of his hand, they disappeared into the air and Danielle almost looked disappointed. Once everything was back to normal – well, normal in a war-torn London anyway - he'd show her what the TARDIS medical bay could do. "Take us to the crash site. I need to see your space junk."

"As soon as I get the nav-com back online," Jack replied. "Make yourself comfortable. Danni-Girl, with me." He turned back to the console, giving Danielle a reason to turn away from what had obviously upset her. "Carry on with whatever it was you were doing."

"We were talking about dancing," the Doctor defended.

"It didn't look like talking," Danielle muttered. Rose couldn't help but smile. She was jealous.

"It didn't feel like dancing," she countered.

Danielle swallowed heavily, looking at what Jack was doing and trying her hardest not to look at how flustered the Doctor looked, or how smug Rose looked. She tried to not focus on the pit in her stomach as she realised that Rose had been right. The Doctor hadn't just caught her attention, he'd firmly forced himself into her head and she'd not noticed.

Rose walked over to Jack, looking him up and down. He was much more her type anyway. "So, you used to be a Time Agent, now you're trying to con them?" she asked, trying to show the interest.

"If it makes me sound any better, it's not for the money," he explained as he worked away. "Danni-Girl, hold that for me." Danielle pressed her finger down on the button he'd pointed to.

"Then why?" she asked.

"Woke up one day when I was still working for them, found they'd stolen two years of my memories. I'd like them back."

Danielle blinked. "They did what?" she asked and Jack couldn't help but smirk slightly as that red-headed anger bubbled up again. "How can they just do that? That's-That's bloody awful!"

Jack couldn't help but nod in agreement. "Two years of my life. No idea what I did." He nodded towards the Doctor. "Your friend over there doesn't trust me, and for all I know he's right not to." He finished what he was doing. "Alright, you can let go now," he instructed and she did. "We're good to go. Crash site?"

~0~0~0~

I have no excuses. I don't even know if any of you are still reading, but I'm going to try and be better.