Chapter 1

Jack Harkness looked up with a smile when he heard the sound of the TARDIS materializing inside the storage room below. It didn't surprise him anymore, because he had accepted the idea that the Doctor was making Cardiff a regular stop. Remembering their last conversation, he patiently waited for his friend to make an appearance upstairs. He didn't want to get into trouble with a disturbed TARDIS. It still hurt not being able to see her but he trusted the Doctor's words that he was trying to change the ship's mind.

He was getting a bit nervous though when the Time Lord didn't show up after a few minutes and slowly made his way through the Hub toward the stairs. The quiet steps he heard calmed him down a bit. It didn't sound like the Doctor's usual confident self though. His breath stopped when he saw a figure moving up. He hadn't been prepared to meet Rose without the Doctor at her side. He had imagined that they would have the chance to see each other again after the Time Lord's statement before leaving the last time but why was she alone?

Rose came to a halt in front of him, apparently speechless when she saw him. "Rose," he said, his eyes shimmering with a mixture of joy and anticipation. How would she react after what she must know by now?

He shouldn't have worried. In the blink of an eye she threw herself in his arms and hugged him tightly. "Jack," she drew out between tears. "I can't believe that you're alive! Oh, that's wonderful. I'm so happy to see you!"

There was more in her voice than the mere joy of this reunion, some kind of relief mixed with despair and he decided that now was not the time to address all the issues they needed to discuss. He slowly entangled himself from her embrace and took her hands in his. "What's wrong, Rose?" he asked and squeezed her hands when he felt her trembling.

"I don't know. The Doctor, he . . . The TARDIS must have been programmed to land here. I didn't do anything. He just fainted, Jack!"

The Captain's eyes widened at her words. She was confused and the only thing he was able to understand was that something must be utterly wrong with their friend.

"I wasn't able to move him," she said with tears in her eyes.

Jack swallowed against the lump forming in his throat. The Doctor was alone in the TARDIS, apparently ill and he couldn't even help him if the ship wouldn't let him in. He needed to call Owen to examine the Time Lord, but he didn't' want to wait for the medic to arrive until he could see what was wrong.

He tried to calm down Rose with a soft voice. "We're going to help him, Rose. Just sit down and calm yourself. The TARDIS knew what she was doing when she brought him here." He stroked gently over her hair and slowly led her to the couch to sit down. Then he pushed a button on his mobile. It didn't take his medic long to answer.

"Owen, we have a case of emergency involving the Doctor. We need your help here," he said, carefully trying to suppress the worry in his voice.

After he knew that Owen would be arriving soon, he looked back to the desperate woman on the couch. "You wait here. I am going down to check on him."

She looked up, tears glistening in her eyes. "The TARDIS won't let you in," she said with a trembling voice. Well, the Time Lord had given her the whole picture then.

"She has to get over it then," he said, his voice full of a determination he didn't feel. "She brought him here for us to help him. Now she has to finish this."

Without waiting for a reply, he hurried down the stairs. The moment he entered the storage room he was met by a wave of revulsion and inhaled sharply, trying to ignore it. He had to do this. The Doctor had trusted him enough to program his ship to come here if something happened to him and he would do what was possible to live up to this honor.

Slowly he approached the police box, breathing against the waves of refusal he was receiving. It took him a long time to finally stand in front of her doors. He held up one hand and carefully placed it on the wooden door, almost crying out at the sudden pain she was causing him. "Hush, beautiful, I know it hurts. But you have to let me in. He needs help. I promise you to get him back," he whispered in a soothing voice.

She seemed to shudder and he felt her recoiling from his touch. He began caressing her gently, pouring all the love he had for her into his movement. He wasn't able to fully understand how she made the connection with him but he knew he had to try to calm her down. On the other side of this door was his friend in need of help and he wouldn't accept no for an answer.

She hummed quietly now and he felt some of her resistance fading. Smiling brightly, he continued to talk to her. "You see, you can do it. He's connected to you and you know he needs me right now. You never would have landed here if you didn't know that. Now, come on, open those doors for me so that I can take care of him."

It seemed to take hours but finally the doors opened slowly. Carefully keeping his hand in contact with the ship, Jack entered trying to sense her distress and soothe her. The moment he stood in the console room a warm feeling spread through him and he took a deep breath. Even through the negative feelings she was throwing at him, he felt the joy of having him back and a deep sense of homecoming filled his senses. "You really are beautiful," he whispered, gently squeezing the railing. "I've missed you so much." He tried to project his gratefulness to her for letting him in and at an encouraging hum from her, he walked over to the console where the Doctor was lying on the ground.

He must have fainted while navigating and Jack smiled when he saw that Rose had tried to make him comfortable. The Doctor's coat was tucked under his head as a pillow and she had placed a blanket over him. He crouched down beside the Time Lord and realized that the alien was trembling. He reached out with his hand and was surprised that his friend grabbed it almost desperately. Gently he squeezed it and began to murmur, "Hush, I'm here. I'm going to help you. I just need to get you out of the TARDIs. I'm hurting her."

The Time Lord's lips were pressed together tightly and his eyelids fluttered, he was too cold even for his standards and Jack couldn't fight the feeling that he hadn't fainted but was succumbing to the need of focusing inward, not able to cope with what was happening inside his mind otherwise.

Carefully he picked him up and left the ship, not without giving her a grateful pat before making his way upstairs.

It took Owen Harper only twenty minutes to make his way to the Hub. In a rush he tapped in the security codes and gave a relieved sigh when the door to the Hub finally opened. He knew that there was no messing with their Captain when it came to the Doctor. From the few bits Jack had shared about his relationship with the alien all of them had realized how important he was to their leader. The medic just hoped he would be able to help the Time Lord. He knew little enough about him. However, that was what he was good at, working with what he had. The Doctor wasn't the first alien who had to rely on him and he would do what he could.

He looked around and was surprised to find the Hub silent. Where was Jack? His gaze shifted toward the couch and he spotted a blonde girl sitting there. The moment she saw him, she stood up and reached out with her hand to greet hm.

"Hello," she said, her voice trembling a bit. "I am Rose Tyler, the Doctor's companion."

He took her hand and gave her a reassuring smile. "I'm Owen. I am the medic around here. What happened?"

She swallowed briefly and he saw that she was struggling with her emotions, but then she looked up and said in a steady voice, "I was with the Doctor in the TARDIS." At his questioning glance, she added an explanation. "His ship, it's called the TARDIS. We just left. . . Um, he wanted to relocate her and suddenly he fainted. I wasn't able to wake him up and a few moments later I found myself here. Jack went down to fetch him." She looked toward the stairs, worry in her eyes. "I wonder what's taking him so long."

Owen followed her gaze and gave her a nod. He briefly debated with himself going down to help Jack but decided against it. Their Captain was capable enough to get the Doctor upstairs. Jack would expect him to prepare everything for examination and there was another possibility to check on them. He walked over to his desk and took the Bluetooth device in his ear. "Jack?" he said while moving toward the autopsy room.

"I am almost there, Owen," the Captain's voice responded and Owen could sense Jack's relief that the medic was already there. "He's unresponsive, but not unconscious. We need to stabilize him."

Owen looked wearily around. Well, it would be easier if he had any idea how to stabilize a Time Lord. Rose had followed him and while he gathered all the necessary items, he began to question her. "You're traveling with him. So, tell me everything you know about his physiology. Every little detail can help. I need to know how different from us he is."

"He has two hearts," she said and Owen gave her a surprised look. "We need to check heart activity on both sides. I've already done that when he fainted. Both hearts were beating steadily."

Owen nodded. "That's good. Anything else?"

"His body temperature is below ours," she said.

"How much below?" he asked, beginning to fear that she didn't know enough.

Her eyes confirmed his suspicion. "Any allergies to common human medication?" he enquired, trying to keep the impatience from his voice.

She shook her head indicating that she didn't know. Then she sank back on the stairs. "Oh my god, I know nothing," she said with despair. "I should have asked him. Now it could be too late."

The medic suppressed his impulse to agree with her. It wouldn't do any good to scold the only person who could help them with this right now. He walked over to her and placed a hand on her shoulder, squeezing it reassuringly. "Come on, think. Is there anything that can help us?"

"He was ill before," she said, apparently calming down a bit. "After his regeneration he was out for almost a day. He came to himself with tea, something about connecting his synapses."

Owen gave her a nod. Well, at least tea couldn't do any harm then.

"He eats an awful lot of bananas," she continued. "He says, it's because of the potassium. . . and, he doesn't like pears. He seems pretty adamant about not having them."

Well, it wasn't much but it had to do for the moment. Later Jack would be able to open the classified file about the Doctor and maybe he would find more information there. He began to prepare the autopsy table. He didn't like the fact that he had to use it for the Time Lord. So he added some pillows to make it more comfortable. At least that would help for the moment.

Then he heard Jack's steps on the stairs and rushed over to him. The Captain had the Time Lord gathered in his arms and Owen cringed when he saw how pale and fragile the man looked. They moved him into the medical bay and the medic began with his examination.

When he had finished, he looked up. "Rose said his body temperature is below ours. However, we don't know how much, but judging by the trembling he must be freezing right now. As you said, he is not unconscious, something is happening inside as if he is captured in a terrible nightmare. My guess is alien possession or something like it. He is fighting something. We need to have more details about him, Jack. I am going to draw a blood sample but without knowing his normal results, it won't do us any good."

Jack gave him a nod. "I have a file from UNIT. He worked for them in the seventies. Maybe we'll find something there."

Rose's eyes widened at that. "He worked for an organization on Earth," she asked incredulously.

The Captain turned toward her. "He did. The commanding officer, Brigadier Lethbrige-Stewart, told me that his TARDIS had been disabled by the Time Lords and the Doctor had been stuck on Earth for a long time." He took her hand. "Come on let's see what we can find."

Owen gave them a nod. "I am going to see what I can find here. Just get me something. If he continues to fight like this, we really need to sustain him or he's going to die from exhaustion."

"You thought that it was so easy? Killing me? You don't know what I am capable of," the voice in his head was screaming and the Doctor fought against the pain it was causing. "Oh, you are a special one, aren't you," it began to taunt again. "A Time Lord. . . The one who killed his people. What a burden you're carrying there. Didn't it ever occur to you that one day you'd have to pay the price for what you've done?"

Images of the Time War were overwhelming him and the Doctor tried to shut them out. But it was too strong and he felt his strength leaving him. No, he had to fight. This wasn't real, the voice wasn't real. Only the imaginations of his own mind. He needed to snap out of it. With one last effort he gathered his energy and began focusing inwardly. Slowly the pictures began to fade and he was met with oblivion.

Jack had gathered all the information, he had been able to find. Rose had been crestfallen when she had realized how little the Doctor had shared with her and it had taken him some time to calm her down. He had left her on the couch again, hoping that she would be able to get some rest. There was a reason why the Doctor had come here. His friend must have known that he would need their equipment in case of an emergency and Jack had found exactly the thing in his locked archives.

He handed Owen the device and at the questioning glance form the medic he said, "You told me that he could be possessed. This scanner should be able to detect any other life form within his body. At least we're going to know if your theory is right."

Owen nodded and took the scanner, examining it carefully. "Anything in the files?" he asked.

"Not much, I'm afraid. The Doctor was always careful with sharing details about Time Lord Physiology. He claimed that a blood sample of a Time Lord could change human history forever. He didn't want to have that knowledge in the wrong hands. I found that he is allergic to Aspirin though."

"Not much help then," the medic said defeated. "Any other solutions? He must keep some sort of medication in his ship. Considering that he is the last of his kind, I can't imagine that he hasn't prepared for something like this."

Jack looked toward his pale friend with sad eyes. "Honestly, I am not sure. Sometimes he gives me that impression of someone who just dances on a volcano. I wouldn't be surprised if he had decided to take things as they come."

Suddenly the Time Lord's head lifted up a bit, his face showing a painful expression. Jack rushed toward his side and took his hand. "Doctor?" he almost shouted. The brown eyes opened for a brief moment and the Captain flinched at how much despair he saw in them. Then his friend slumped down onto the table again and any sign of life disappeared.

Owen placed the stethoscope onto the Time Lord's chest, checking both of his hearts and nodded satisfied. "Whatever happened, his hearts are beating more in synch now. Look," he pointed toward the Doctor's face, "his eyelids have ceased fluttering. He seems to be at rest at the moment. But his pulse is weak and he's losing energy. We really need to find something to help him regain his strength."

"You could work with the hints Rose gave you. He seems to need a lot of potassium. I mean, when I traveled with him he always had bananas stored in the TARDIS. . . ." Owen's incredulous look stopped his sentence and he bit his lip. He hadn't planned on sharing this.

"You traveled with him?" Owen asked, while looking toward the monitor screen, trying to work out how to survey the vital signs of a Time Lord.

Jack briefly thought about brushing it off but decided against it. As the Doctor seemed to have chosen Torchwood as his safe location, he really needed to give his team the full picture. There would be even more awkward situations if he didn't. "He picked me up in 1941 during the London blitz. I did something stupid and we cleaned up the mess together. I would have died if he hadn't come to my rescue. Then I just stayed."

Owen gave him a nod and Jack was grateful that his medic didn't insist on more information. Telling him that he traveled with Rose and the Doctor was one thing, but he wasn't ready to talk about Satellite Five yet.

"It certainly explains why you seem to know more about aliens than any of us around here," Owen said and began placing the wires of the surveillance monitor on the motionless body before him. Then he heaved a deep sigh. "This is no good, Jack. You need to check if he keeps any records on his ship. Meanwhile I will prepare this scanner thing to check for other life forms. But if we can't find something to give him the strength to fight it, we can't help him. His heart rate is already going down. The stress is too much for him. I mean, look at him, he doesn't seem to be fond of nutrition anyway."

Jack looked down at the Doctor and he had to admit that Owen was right. The Time Lord was pale and his face showed a tense expression. However, he loathed the thought of entering the TARDIS again. He had felt how much his presence had hurt her before. "Look," he replied and tried to think of an explanation. "I am no medic. I wouldn't know what to look for. Why don't you take Rose and look for what you need. She should be able to communicate with the TARDIS enough to get the information from her."

He saw the frown forming on the medic's face at his choice of words. But then Owen turned the monitor toward Jack with a nod. "Just check for any changes here then. I am recording everything. Any report will help us figure him out."

The Captain looked after his retreating form. Then he sat down and began working with the scanner while carefully watching the Time Lord with worry. "What are you fighting my friend?" he asked softly. "You really should have prepared us for this. But that's what you do, make it up as you go along. Well, we can work with that. . . ." A wistful smile crossed his lips.

After having fiddled with the alien tech long enough, a green light showed him that it was ready for use. He held it over the Time Lord's body and slowly let it drift from head to toe and back. It took only a second to get the result and Jack's heart sank. No other life form detected. Which meant there was still no clue what was happening to the Doctor. He would have preferred to know what they were fighting.

Rose was glad that she had something to do and Owen Harper seemed to know exactly what he needed. She had calmed down a bit when he had reassured her that the Doctor was stable but they needed to come up with a solution to help him through his ordeal. Jack was apparently checking him for alien possession and she shivered at the thought that the mysterious entity from their last adventure had somehow escaped within the Doctor's body. But she was sure that she had killed it. She shook her head and laid a hand on the TARDIS door, silently asking for her to grant the medic entrance.

In an instant the doors opened and Rose took Owen's hand. "Now, I know this will be a bit overwhelming. However, questions will have to wait until we have found what you need," she began to explain and in the next moment she saw Owen's eyes widen.

"Well, let's see what we can find then." The medic said regaining his composure without hesitation. Rose had to pay him her respects. Owen Harper was a professional and he didn't let himself distract from the well-being of his patient. "Were do we start though?" he asked looking around.

In the back of the console room a door opened at his question and Rose sent a grateful thought toward the ship. "I think, she knows what you're looking for," she said, ignoring Owen's bewildered expression.

The first room behind the door was the medical bay and when they entered it the monitor was blinking. Owen walked over to it and took out his data stick. "If I didn't know better, I'd say that this ship is sentient. Or maybe the Doctor installed another emergency protocol. This is exactly the file we need," he said not seeing Rose's smile behind his back.

She suddenly had the feeling that there was more and looked up. There were IV bags stuffed in the shelves and she took one of them to see what it was. She could have sworn that the writing on them changed the moment she held it in her hands. "I think this is what will sustain him," she said, handing it over to the medic.

Owen inhaled sharply and his expression became bewildered. "Jack thought that the Doctor hadn't prepared for this. But he was wrong. With these we can help him. I am sure about that. I've never met someone better prepared for an emergency."

Rose didn't answer, knowing fully well that Jack had been right. It wasn't the Doctor who had been prepared. Once more it was the TARDIS who had provided them with exactly what they needed. Somehow she had found Owen Harper trustworthy enough to help her pilot and Rose was grateful for that. She couldn't even think about another possibility.

"Ah, shutting me out won't work!" With vengeance the voice was back and the Doctor shook violently at the assault. "You will pay for your sins. Time Lord."

It was his own mind playing tricks on him and his strength was leaving him. He wasn't able to fight it any longer. "She will die! Do you hear that, Doctor?" The voice was creeping through his system filling him with pain. "Your faithful companion will die in battle and once more it will be your fault. You killed your own people and now you will be responsible for another death!"

He shuddered at these words. No, he had killed the beast. There was no way it could be back. Once more he tried to shut it out but to no avail. His whole body was burning up and a wave of guilt began to consume him. "No," he whispered before giving in and collapsing.

As Jack put the scanner onto one of the shelves surrounding them, he suddenly heard a whimper coming from the Doctor. He turned around and rushed toward the autopsy table. The Time Lord was trembling violently and the surveillance monitor showed his hearts' rate accelerating. Jack placed his hand on the other man's chest, trying to calm him down and his heart clenched when he saw the tears running over his friend's face. Whatever it was what the Doctor was experiencing, it was causing a lot of pain and they needed to help him soon.

His efforts to reassure the Time Lord didn't seem to help and the Doctor began writhing around on the table. "Doctor," Jack said, trying to hide the desperation in his voice. He felt helpless at seeing the struggling Time Lord. What was happening?

Then suddenly the Doctor stilled and with a whispered 'No' he collapsed. The monitor began to beep loudly and Jack knew immediately that the Time Lord's hearts had stopped beating. "Oh no," he cried out. "Don't you dare die on me!"

Not knowing how to deal with a dying Time Lord, Jack did the only thing he could come up with and began resuscitation, alternating between both sides of his chest and reinforcing his breath with a certain amount of Artron energy. The Doctor's hearts began beating again almost instantly and when Jack gave him a last boost of energy into his mouth, his face took on a healthier color. Satisfied that the Time Lord was stable for now, the Captain sank back onto the stool at the table's side. The adrenaline in his body began to fade and he shuddered when he thought about how close this had been. There had been no sign of regeneration, not that Jack would know how the process worked. But he was fairly sure that if the Doctor died too quickly to initiate it, he could actually be gone forever. At that thought he felt panic nearly overwhelming him and he was glad to hear Owen and Rose running down the stairs toward him. He just hoped that they had found something to help their friend.

"What happened?" the medic said with a strained voice at seeing the monitor.

"He arrested," Jack replied with a neutral tone, trying to keep this professional. It wouldn't do to show his fear in front of Owen and he certainly didn't want to panic Rose. "I was able to bring him back. He seems to be stable now."

Rose approached the table and leaned over the Doctor, her eyes shimmering with unshed tears. He placed a hand on her shoulder. "He's fine now, Rose." Then he looked at his medic. "Did you find something?"

Owen gave him a brief nod, already occupied with putting up an IV. "We don't exactly know what it is, but it seems to be some nutrition fluid. We found it in the medical bay of his ship. Seems that you were wrong. He actually has prepared for this."

Jack gave him a frown. "How do you know?"

"Well, the writing on it is English. Now I gather that's not his native language and why should he have placed them in front of anything else if he hadn't wanted to help us in case of emergency?"

Jack saw Rose's glance at the medic's words and smiled. The TARDIS had helped them, being obviously equally concerned about her pilot's well-being as they all were. But Owen didn't have a clue. He gave the medic a nod. "Well, good that he did that then. Anything about his normal blood levels and body temperature?"

Rose turned around to him and gave him a data stick. "Should be on this file," she said and Jack saw that she had regained her composure a bit.

"Okay, I'm going to feed the system with these while you put up the IV. Rose, would you mind staying with him? I don't know how well he's going to remember Owen and I don't want him to panic if he wakes up."

She gave him a nod and sat down at the Doctor's side, taking his hand in hers. When Jack was on the stairs, he turned around again. "Can we move him to the sofa, Owen? I want to make him comfortable. Who knows how long this is going to take."

The medic looked up. "Yes, just prepare it and then come back to help me carrying him. He seems to be stable enough and we don't want to evoke a panic attack if he wakes up on an autopsy table, do we?"