-X-

.seven.

-X-

He wasn't planning to go inside when he pulled up at the door to the Temple-Noble house, but Susan had other ideas.

"Long time, Jack," she said, and the way she stared at him with those eyes, he really couldn't resist.

Donna and Wilf had already returned, both waiting at the kitchen table with steaming mugs of tea and discussing the stars. Jack's first instinct was to cut them off because surely it was too dangerous - only, Donna showed no sign of remembering. Besides, if two alien species, a wormhole, and a Shakespeare anthology weren't enough to bring those memories back, he wasn't sure what would.

"Shaun's in the other room," Donna gestured and somehow, Jack found himself poking his head through the doorway.

"'Allo," said Shaun, upon noticing the stranger in his sitting room.

Jack nodded to the telly. "Anything good on?"

"Nah."

Jack stayed anyway, leaning up against the doorframe and listening to the snippets of conversation behind him. Donna was asking questions about Susan's experience with the wormhole as a child. He heard something about snow as well as the admittance that given the chance, Susan would go right back.

"It sounds amazing," Donna sighed at one point. "I wish I could remember adventures like that."

Jack stiffened. Susan didn't miss a beat. "You can remember today. You were marvellous in the bookshop."

"You think?" Donna asked, cheered by the thought. "It just felt natural to me. Looked bloody natural to you, too. This portal thing, then, you do that a lot?"

"I've gotten used to improvisation."

Wilf chuckled. "You're awfully experienced for your age."

"That's what I said," muttered Jack. Beside him, Shaun let out a snort and tried to hide it with a cough.

There was an awkward pause and Jack almost turned around, but then Susan was speaking again, "I'm older on the inside."

"Everyone is, these days," Wilf grumbled.

If Donna understood, she gave no sign.

-X-

"You said the fifties, yes?" Jack asked, fiddling again with his vortex manipulator.

"There isn't a reason for me to go back," Susan retorted from across the room. "No one's waiting for me. I might as well stay here."

He didn't believe her, not completely. He'd seen the wistful look that crossed her face those few times she'd mentioned her home before. "You don't have to stay," he said, locking the location and holding the device out. "Just a visit. Surely there's something you've left behind. And you never know - " He hesitated slightly, remembering that Donna was still in the room. "Someone might drop in, looking for you."

"He's not coming for me," she said, matter-of-fact. "He can't bear looking back. I don't blame him."

"Still." He continued to hold his arm out until finally, she relented.

"I'd hit you over the head with this," she said with a smirk, nodding to the vortex manipulator as he strapped it around her wrist. "But you're right - there are a few keepsakes I wouldn't mind collecting. And it won't take long to tie up loose ends."

Jack grinned at her until she levelled a cool gaze at him in return. He whispered, "Did you really fall through a wormhole as a child?"

"And stayed long enough to rule as queen," she responded, voice equally soft.

He shook his head admiringly. "Damn, that's sexy."

The gap closed between them. He could feel Susan's breath on his skin, taste her warm lips on his mouth -

"Oi!" shouted an affronted Donna. "Get a room!"

Susan pulled away and breathed a laugh. "My apologies," she said. Growing serious, she told Donna, "While I'm gone, I can look for answers, if you'd like."

Jack wondered how much Susan had told Donna of her situation. It was a fine line she was treading, a balance that couldn't be maintained forever. Susan noticed his disapproval and said firmly, "She needs to remember, Jack. You don't know what it's like to have a hole where memories should be."

He stilled, the reminder hurting even after so long. "Don't assume that."

She caught herself and grimaced. "I'm sorry. I didn't know." And then, looking between him and Donna, continued, "I can't promise I'll find anything. I don't even know where I could start searching."

Would it even be possible to find a cure that the Doctor had said was non-existent? Jack considered the women before him, both so fiercely determined. If anyone could, he realized, it would be them.

He made a decision. "Leave it until you're back. Between the two of us, we can think of places to investigate."

"Three of us," Donna corrected. Laughing, she elbowed Susan playfully. As she pulled back, Donna's hand swiped gently over the device now strapped to Susan's wrist.

"Watch out!" Jack yelped, and pulled Donna back just as the purple-blue light reached from the manipulator to swallow Susan.

And then it was gone, leaving nothing but the hint of smoke where Susan had once sat.

-X-

The evening was brisk, and even his heavy coat was not enough to keep Jack warm. On such a night he would have much preferred to be inside, warming his hands over the heater and dreaming of future technologies. Instead, he'd been assigned to investigate an alien sighting.

He'd found the alien, all right. It was an easy case of 'just go where the people are screaming.' The creature was squat and fat with a piggish face and kept trying to take out its rage on whatever poor humans strayed in its path. Jack had been pushed to his limit trying to fend it off in time to get the intended victims to safety, and it had already cost him his life. He wasn't very keen on letting it happen again.

The alien turned into an alleyway that Jack knew was a dead end. Unless the creature was planning on meeting more of its kind, this would be the spot to take it down. Jack followed cautiously, slipping off the safety of his gun and keeping to the shadows. Just a little further, and he would -

There came a flash, dim and purple, from the end of the alley. He recognized the signs of teleportation well enough, but for one absurd moment he thought it was the alien who had transported away. Then he saw the tall, female figure who stumbled and caught herself with one hand against the brick wall. The alien snarled as it made its leap towards fresh prey. The sharp report of a gunshot caught the creature just as its claws raked at her arm.

The woman lowered her weapon and heaved a sigh before pulling herself upright. She glanced once at her wrist and swore under her breath.

Jack stepped forward, raising his weapon. "I'd know a teleportation device anywhere," he said.

The woman had her gun pointed at him in the blink of an eye. "Would you know how to fix one?" She squinted at him through the shadows and faltered. "Jack?"

He moved closer, giving her an admiring once-over. "Have we met before?"

Her words came slow. "Perhaps not. Not yet. I'm Susan." She lowered her arm, although Jack had no doubt she could react fast if she even suspected he might make a move.

He made a move anyways, albeit one of a different sort. "Well, Susan," he responded, and lowered his own gun in kind, "How about I buy you a drink?"

-X-

-END-