Just Imagine...

Funny Feeling in my Soul

It was getting dark, but Sam was out in the forest, stalking through the bioluminescent undergrowth and scattering nocturnal butterflies in her wake. Something had made her come out here, a strange sensation in the pit of her stomach.
She needed to be in the rainforest tonight.
In her right hand was a sword with a silver-white blade and an assortment of glowing jewels on the back end of the hilt, each a different color. The sword was called The Lion's Breath, and it had been given to her by her Abuelo when she was very young. Maybe she'd actually get to use it tonight.
Sam had no idea where she was going, but she felt almost instinctively drawn to a specific part of the forest. She didn't consciously choose her path, her feet just led her there.
She stopped at the base of a massive tree trunk, roots as big around as a car snaking into the earth. The tree Sam was standing beneath was impossibly tall, its branches growing around the trunk in a spiral shape and laden with beautiful pink blossoms that twinkled in the darkness like stars. This was the Tree of Life, and not long ago, Sam had suspected it was the last of its kind in the entire universe.
That thought was abruptly cut off at a loud shout from above and the sound of something crashing down through the branches. Sam tensed, ready for a fight. But what landed at her feet didn't seem like it was going to attack her any time soon.
It was a man, probably in his late thirties, with medium brown hair and bright blue eyes. The long, dark blue coat he was wearing was dappled in petals from the Tree of Life, so it looked like he had fallen from the stars. He cried out in pain as he fell on a hard patch of ground, curling into a defensive ball. Sam didn't want to admit it, but her first instinct was to think this strange person was rather cute, in a puppy-like way. But nonetheless, she still pointed her sword at him as soon as he'd gathered himself enough to register his surroundings.
"Who are you?" She demanded, puffing out her chest to make herself look bigger, "why are you here? How are you here??"
The man winced, pushing himself up.
"Captain Jack Harkness," he murmured, "no idea, and I think I was dropped here by a space-time rift. Where exactly is this? Am I still on Earth?"
"I'll be asking the questions, Captain Jack Harkness, thank you," Sam said sternly, "whaddya mean you were dropped here?"
"You saw how I fell outta this damn tree," the man - Jack - grumbled, sitting up and wiping blood from a small cut on his cheek, "and I could probably tell you more if you told me where I am."
Sam rolled her eyes.
"Saint Lucia, the Caribbean," she said, "happy?"
"Very." Jack murmured, slowly rising to his feet and leaning against the Tree of Life with a charming smile.
He was about the same height as Sam, and she couldn't help but notice the strange resemblance he had to her and Jay - the dimples on his cheeks and chin like hers, his blue eyes like the sea were the same color as her partner's. Sam shook herself. It was probably a coincidence.
"What's your name?" Jack asked.
"Sam Ryder," Sam replied, and immediately had no idea why she'd given up that information so willingly, "this is my forest and I wanna know why you're here."
"I wish I could explain it to you, I really do," Jack sighed, "just... let me get to the nearest airport or whatever and you'll never see me again."
"Oh no no no, hold on now," Sam said, blocking his path and raising The Lion's Breath again, "you don't get off that easy."
"I didn't want to end up here in the first place, it was an accident," Jack said with an edge to his voice, "you don't have to be so aggressive, I'm not gonna do anything to your precious trees."
He roughly pushed past her, heading deeper into the forest.
"You're goin' the wrong way, pal." Sam muttered, folding her arms over her chest. Jack turned back to glare at her and she grinned smugly. He sighed.
"Can you show me the way out of here?" He asked, "please?"
"And why should I help you?" Sam demanded, "I don't know anything about you."
This time it was Jack who rolled his eyes.
"Fine," he muttered, "I'll find my way out on my own."
He turned in a different direction - still not leading out of the forest - and this time Sam noticed him stumble slightly.
"You're limping." She observed. Jack paused, but didn't look back.
"I'll be fine, it's just a scrape," he said, continuing onwards, "why would you care anyway?"
Sam winced internally, then followed him, moving silently through the bushes.
"You're still going the wrong way." She said after a short silence, "can't you hear the ocean?"
"I thought you weren't going to help me." Jack snarked, turning around to face her.
"I'm not," Sam growled, "I just want you off my property as soon as possible. C'mon, it's this way." She pushed aside a tall fernlike plant and headed in the direction of the shoreline. Jack followed her cautiously.
Once outside of the forest, Jack's face was bathed in the light of the full moon, and Sam peered at him, puzzled. He really did look oddly familiar, in the way that her reflection looked familiar.
"You're... very striking." Jack murmured awkwardly.
"Not interested," Sam said, brushing past him and headed back towards her house, "I already have a family. A beautiful wusband and three children. Two! I meant two."
Sam frowned. Why had she said "three"?
"I didn't mean it like that!" Jack protested, running after her. Sam noticed his limp was gone now. Had he been faking before? "I just meant... your eyes. I've never seen someone with eyes as green as yours. Are you human?"
"Of course I'm human!" Sam scoffed, "are you?"
Jack shrugged.
"Dunno."
Sam raised an eyebrow at him, but said nothing.
"And what's with the scars by the way?" Jack added, "you look like you've been fighting wild animals every day since you were five!"
Sam laughed.
"You could say that."
"Do you really live in these woods?"
"Pretty much. I grew up in a house right on top of this cliff. I still live there now. It's kinda big for my little family but we're making it work. There's probably gonna be a lot more people there someday."
Sam stopped, feeling that familiar ache in the back of her chest. It was an odd emptiness, like she was missing something - or, to put it more accurately, forgetting something. Or maybe someone. She worried her fingernails together, realizing the feeling had lessened slightly since she'd met Jack, and been replaced by a faint tingling sensation around her heart. No, it wasn't her heart. It was... her soul. Perhaps. She wasn't sure.

"Just follow this road into town," Sam said the next morning as she stood with Jack at the edge of the Ryder Estate, the heavy black gates swinging back and forth slightly in the breeze, "there'll be a bus to Castries, and you can catch a plane to wherever you're going from there."
"Okay," Jack murmured, smiling more genuinely this time, "thanks. Y'know, for giving me a place to sleep. I probably would've been killed if I'd slept in the jungle. Not that that matters."
"Of course it does!" Sam replied, a little too quickly.
Jack shuffled his feet in the gravel.
"Well, I'd better get going. Goodbye, Sam."
"Bye, Jack."
Sam sighed as she walked back up her driveway to her house.
The tingling feeling had left, and now the achy feeling felt worse than before. Sam didn't understand it, but she was starting to think it had something to do with Jack.
Meanwhile, as Jack turned and walked along the side of the road, brushing by a few rhododendron bushes with flowers in varying shades of pink that grew over the white walls, he felt oddly sad. Sam had been the first stranger to show him any real kindness since... well, Jack wasn't actually sure.
He was almost too far away to hear the sound of footfalls running back to the open gate, but he turned around when someone called his name.
"Jack! Wait!" Sam shouted, then paused at the questioning look on his face, "um... it's nothing. Never mind."
"No, hold on," Jack murmured, stopping her before she could turn back, "could you come with me? Please?"
Sam stared at him, unsure how he'd seemed to read her mind. She beckoned to him with a jerk of her head.
"C'mon back inside," she said, "I wanna talk to you about moving to Cardiff."