Home Sweet Home

[Jack Harkness]

Jack was watching her carefully. He could tell that she was remembering the incident again and he rubbed her leg some more. Trying to distract her just a little bit from the memories he knew would surface. Jack looked at her as she slowly started to fall asleep… and then she was out. He smiled tenderly and sat there for a good while, just… watching her sleep so peacefully. He would have to find the Doctor somehow, and that shouldn’t be so hard to do. The Doctor wasn’t exactly an easy man to find, which complicated the matters for Jack.

He leaned his head back against the couch once more and sighed softly. He closed his eyes and leaned back. A few seconds later he heard her start to snore quietly. He patted her leg gently and got to his feet. He did his best to make the least amount of movement that he could as he got to his feet. Jack crossed the room and went to his desk. He pulled one of the papers off the stack and looked over at Rose’s sleeping form. He had a feeling that this was something that she desperately needed. The Captain nodded his head slowly and then started on the paperwork.

Then a thought struck him and he placed a hand on the phone on his desk and lifted the receiver. He dialed a number and then listened to it ring, “Yeah, Ianto. It’s me.” Jack spoke quietly into the phone, “Hey, do we have any soup in the fridge?” Jack paused and listened, “Thanks, no, no, you don’t have to come in. Alright. See you tomorrow, yeah. Love you too Ianto.” Jack said softly into the phone. He hung it up a few seconds later and studied Rose’s sleeping form. Then, with a sigh, he bent over and grabbed a paper from the stack and started to read it.

[Rose Tyler]

It was about an hour, before Rose stirred from her sleep. It was a lot of time to go by for her these days, much longer than she'd ever slept in the last week, and a lot longer than she'd expected to be out. But as one hour and ten minutes started to roll around, give or take, the dreamless sleep went away, and started to be replaced by horrible images in her mind. It started out innocent enough. She and The Doctor were sitting around a table dining with some new friends, or at least, beings that they were being friendly with, but soon turned out to be horrible, vicious creatures.

She watched, unable to stop him while he took a long drink out of a glass. Rose knew that it was poison, but she couldn't stop him in time. Then he was lying on Rose's bed, sweating and crying out in agony, as his internal organs stopped functioning. Rose could almost feel his pain as she slept, like her organs were melting, as she'd always imagined that his did. She heard him speak his last words to her, information about the TARDIS, and telling her how sorry he was. He told her that he loved her, and Rose was crying, holding his hand tightly, desperate not to let him slip away from her.

On the couch, Rose was starting to toss and turn, breaking out in a light sweat. She jerked awake, cluntching the blanket, and breathing hard. Her heart was beating quickly, and it took her a second to come back to the real world. She still felt the shadow of the pain in her stomach from the dream, in addition to the heartache that was more fresh now, after reliving it all in her mind again.

[Jack Harkness]

Jack had just come back from being outside and had just started to sit down on his desk when he realized that something was not alright with Rose. Her sleep had become rather irregular and Jack knew the nightmares were going to start soon enough. Jack let it go for the moment though, it wouldn’t do to save her every time she had one. And Jack had a feeling that even if he wanted to wake her up… he wouldn’t be able to. The Captain watched in obvious discomfort as he did so. When she suddenly sprang up from the couch with the blanket clenched in her hands.

Jack crossed the room to look at her and frowned. He crouched down and reached out to touch her on the shoulder. He knew she was hurting badly now and made a soft sound in his throat. Without another comment he sat down next to her on the couch and drew her into another hug. He didn’t say much, just held her. It hurt him so much that she had to live through this. It was never pleasant, in fact, it was among the worst feelings that Jack knew.

But there was one more feeling worse in the pit of Jack’s stomach. Guilt. He’d met the Doctor kept Rose a secret from him… and now he was going to keep both the Doctor and the Doctor’s new companion a secret from his dear Rose. He bent his head and heaved a sigh. He only hoped that she could find it in herself to forgive him for what he was doing. It was just too much heartache to put on her shoulders right now. Telling her that her Doctor was with another who he loved and loved him back just seemed like rubbing the salt in the wound.

The Doctor her Doctor had given her was dead, and her original Doctor had moved on. Who else was there to love Rose Tyler? To care for her? Jack frowned and looked down at Rose once more, the poor thing. This was just… the absolute worst thing that could have possibly happened. And this time, Jack wasn’t quite sure how Rose would come out.

[Rose Tyler]

Rose had almost expected to wake up in her TARDIS. She'd had the slight hope that it had all been a dream, and she would wake up and The Doctor wouldbe there, sitting beside her, or laying beside her with his arms around her. He would whister comforting words to her in his soothing way, and they would go off on their next adventure. She had that same hope whenever she woke up, or heard a knock on the door, or a sound that somehow reminded her of the TARDIS. But those hopes always went away just as fast as they had come, and she was left with a feeling of emptiness and bitter coldness.

She leaned forward taking a few deep breaths to calm her nerves as well as she could, before sitting back up, running her hands over hr hair, and pushing it out of her face. That was when Jack's hand rested on her shoulder, and she turned her head to look at him. She'd nearly forgotten that he was there, and that she was sittingin his office, in Torchwood. She was glad, though, this was a muchbetter place to wake up from than she had all week, and she was in much better company to deal with this kind of situation. Swallowing hard, Rose tried to slow thebeating of her broken heart.

As she took a deep breath, Jack moved to sit beside her, and she lef thim wrap her his in strong arms, and pull her close. Rose lean against him, using his warm and loving hug to ground herself, and pull her out of her thoughts and back into the world that she had fought to get back to. She wasn't tired anymore, that nap seemed to have been enough to refreash her a bit, and waking up like that had been enough to keep her from going back to sleep. It was so hard, and she couldn't imagine that this was a wound that time could heal. She needed the Doctor for that. But how would she find him, he could be anywhere?

"I don't know what I would have done without you."

She meant that, too. If she were to have come here, without a friend in the world, and nowhere to even begin to start, she didn't know where she would have ended up. She could have really hurt herself, with him to help her, and keep her feeling like she wasn't alone. She really understood the way The Doctor had felt for those years. He always talked about being the last, and living a long life all alone. She knew what he'd been saying, and it might hav consumed her, if Jack hadn't been there to find her. Pulling out of his embrace for a moment, Rose placed a gentle kiss on his cheek.

[Jack Harkness]

Jack could tell that she wasn’t the one she was most hoping to see. But he knew who she was most hoping to see—and then second most hoping to see. Sadly, neither of them were around anymore. One was still out there somewhere, and one… one was never coming back to her. He was third in line, but that made sense to him. As far as playing a part in Rose’s life, he wasn’t that important. But he knew that he was still important to her, and she was important to him. Probably more than he was actually willing to admit. But then again, plenty of people had meant more to Jack that he’d let on.

Ianto did, Rose did… and plenty of other people it still hurt Jack deeply to name. But somehow, Rose meant more to him that everyone else. She was the one person he would lay his life (… immortal life) on the line for. She’d had the most impact on his life and had shaped who he was, which was insanely cliché to think, but Jack knew that it was true. He sighed and then watched Rose. She was covered in a light sweat, her heart was racing – yes. She had re-seen her husband die once more, and she would for quite some time. Jack kept her snuggled against his chest as she leaned into him, he looked down as the pretty broken blonde started to talk once more.

He nodded his head slowly and smiled, pleased with what she’d said. It warmed him up more than his great coat did most of the time. Jack rubbed his hand on her back soothingly and smiled down at her. “You would have survived Rose,” he said softly, “Because that’s what the Doctor would want you to do. Survive.” And it was true, Jack knew as painful as it was to say and admit. He knew that it was true. “It’s what we’ve always done, and what makes every human the same.” His throat closed up a little as he looked down at Rose and smiled sadly.

Jack looked at Rose as she pulled out of his embrace just a little. He blinked a few times and then relaxed his grip on her to let her be more free in case she wanted to move away from him. He’d expected her to move, get more comfortable, move away from him… and the last thing he’d expected was for her to kiss him on the cheek. It was an innocent kiss, but it told him so much about poor Rose. It told him how much his company really meant to her. With a smile he touched his forehead against her own and sighed softly.

Doubt plagued his heart once more. Jack knew he should tell Rose someday soon about the Doctor and his new companion… but it remained so hard for him to do so.