Jack held his hand tentatively. The rubble crashed to the ground, debris scattering everywhere, as the building around them plunged into a pile of rubble. The clang of metal, crumble of concrete and sparks of fire lapping the falling walls were echoing through the disintegrating halls as the Doctor and Jack pressed themselves into a corner. Jack was smothering the Doctor, protecting him from the deadly falling metal and glass shards, as the Doctor curled into a tight ball against the wall. Had they known that this would happen, they probably wouldn't have stepped out of the Tardis. Well at least Jack liked to think so.

The rumbling quietened down, and they looked out into the room. Things still fell, and the dust in the air was choking them, but they thought they had seen out the worst of it. Coughing, Jack loosened his grip on the Doctor and sat up.

"You didn't have to smother me like that, Jack." The Doctor spoke to him through the cloud.

"Oh yes I did, I wanted to. I wouldn't have let myself not protect you from harm." There was a hint of an ulterior motive in Jack's voice, alluding to his inner feelings towards the man below him. The Doctor registered this, but brushed it off. He didn't want to even think about the feelings that he tried to keep buried deep within. Jack stood and walked towards the centre, seeing if it was safe enough to vacate. Honestly, he had expected the building to be in worse shape. Next thing he knew, there was a rumble that knocked him off his feet. More of the roof caved in, and Jack only saw a glimpse of the Doctor before the floor crumbled around him, causing the Doctor to plummet into the darkness below. Jack screamed and dove towards him, but it was too late – all he could do was listen to the Doctor's yell echo throughout the halls in the floors below him. Peering over the edge of the hole, not caring about the instability of the floor, he couldn't see anything. It was dark – no sunlight shone into the severely damaged lower floors. And, to his dread, he could tell that probably several floors were missing in that spot. Meaning the Doctor had fallen meters onto a jagged, rubble-strewn pile of debris at the bottom. He was tempted to jump down there himself, knowing that he would find the Doctor when he revived again. He hesitated because of thinking how insistently the Doctor had talked about his dislike of Jack's continued dying.

Noticing a cable trailing downwards into the darkness, Jack grabbed it and pulled to ensure it was secure. He then lowered himself down as quickly as he could, until he reached the end of the cable two floors down. However, he was unable to successfully stop himself descending down the cable and slid of the end to fall into the darkness below. Luckily, there had only been a floor left for him to fall until he hit the ground level. He was right, the ground was filled with sharp metal piercing through broken concrete pilling upon the floor. He took a torch from within his jacket, only remembering then that he had one, and searched for the Doctor.

"Doctor?" He coughed into the dust. "Doctor! Where are you?"

Jack looked up, and tried to see where he would have landed. To his dismay, he found blood smeared across some of the rubble. Running closer, he saw that the spots were dripping from a squashed pile of rubble. Luckily, he thought, it was a pile of plaster and insulation… a softer landing than the metal spearing from the heap and splintering wood. Behind the pile, as he ran, he found a single hand upon the ground.

"No…" he uttered as he knelt beside the Doctor. He was bleeding profusely from a gash on his head, his arm was broken and twisted in odd angles, his shirt was soaked with blood and his leg was shredded deeply allowing the cracked bone to be seen from where Jack gawked. He dropped the torch and pressed his ear softly on the Doctor's chest, desperately hearing for those four resounding thumps. His heart sank to the silence, but jumped again when the sound of a soft pounding of a single heart was heard. Panicking when this was the only sound heard over several seconds, Jack grabbed the Doctor's mouth and exhaled forcefully. Relieved at hearing the next inhale come from the Doctor himself, Jack sat backwards and tried to catch his own breath from the shock.

"Doc, come on Doc… you'll be ok." He spoke, as he investigated further the injuries. It was more a plea of hope than a statement of certainty. And he knew that the Doctor couldn't regenerate from everything – and not when he was unconscious. And even then, the man he loved would die and a new one would take his place.

Jack pulled of his overcoat and placed it over the doctor, and tore up his sleeves to press against the bleeding on the Doctor's head. Even in the dark, the stark contrast of red on white was frightening. Shifting his coat for a moment, he looked at the chest wounds, and was relieved to see that they were superficial. His leg, however, was a different story. Quickly ripping more of his shirt, Jack made more long strips of cloth and a small clump of rags. Upon placing the padding over the gash, it quickly turned bright red. Using the long strips Jack fastened the padding in place, all the while attempting to close the wound. At the very least, the Doctor was not conscious for this part. Jack knew all too well what agony these wounds would cause, and how much worse it would be when Jack did what he was doing.

Suddenly Jack became aware of his surroundings again, as small rock particles and dust fell on top of his face from above. He had been so absorbed in the Doctor's injuries that he had forgotten that they were at the bottom of a large building that was falling to the ground. Looking up, he saw where the rock had come from: the roof of the floor they were on was crumbling under the strain, with large cracks appearing before his eyes. Knowing that he had little time before tonnes of steel and concrete buried them alive (and most likely dead), Jack knew he had to get the Doctor out of there. He picked the bloodied skinny man up and carried him against his own body, his overcoat still covering the Doctor. Jack had decided that the Doctor's life was more important than causing any further spinal injuries he had by moving him. He sprinted through the rough ground, avoiding obstacles of rubble and attempting to not trip over with the addition of the Doctor's weight making him very top-heavy.

Just as Jack vacated the area, the roof gave way and collapsed upon the floor. He squeezed through a gap on the side of the crumbling wall and out into the daylight. There was no one there, the entire place was abandoned. His only hope was to get to the Tardis – which happened to be almost on the other side of the forest that spanned in front of him. Jack trawled up the embankment, heaving the Doctor's dead-weight in his arms – careful to make as little jerks as possible. It was steeper than it looked, and much looser soil than he expected. His boots sunk into the gravel, and the bottom of his coat became covered with mud. After slipping a few times, and half an hour, Jack made it to the top of the bank to the edge of the forest. Panting, he lay the Doctor down on the soft grass so that they both could rest for a moment. Jack dropped to the ground next to him, but made sure to keep an eye on him at all times. Looking down at himself, Jack saw that he was covered in sweat, mud, concrete dust and blood.

"I look as if I've just had a building fall on me, then walked away up a muddy bank." He joked to the motionless Doctor, trying to lighten the mood in his own mind.