Ending of the Hours (Book Four of the Bad Wolf Chronicles)

Shatterpoint

The Doctor found his wife on one of the verandahs, sitting on one of the lounge chairs, but huddled up, almost as if trying to shield herself. He slowly walked forward, pulling another chair over to sit next to her, seeing the dead look in her eyes. "Jezebel?" he asked softly.

"I killed her," was all Jessie said.

"I know."

"No, I mean, I killed Sky," Jessie said thickly, tears in her eyes. "Before I threw her out of the shuttle, I shot her dead. I broke Biff's arm, I nearly shot Val. I lost it. I completely lost it!"

"Don't think about that," the Doctor told her fiercely, prying open her hands from where they were clasped tightly around her legs to hold them in his own.

"But I can't stop it!" Jessie sobbed, and the Doctor's hearts broke at seeing this reaction from her, even worse than from all hope had seemed lost for them after Manhattan. "I just can't stop thinking about it! Everything just snapped, and I just reacted. I've never lost control like that before, and it scares me to death, Kasterborous!"

"And how do you think I felt when Baines poisoned you?" the Doctor asked, switching to sit next to her, wrapping his arms around her, feeling her shaking badly. "I was human, and I saw you dying, and even after I turned back, there was absolutely nothing I could do except watch the Tesseract attempt to save your life and wait three more days again. I saw you die once, and I watched you nearly die again. If I had to do it a third time, I don't know what I would do either."

"But you knew, didn't you?" Jessie accused, and the Doctor blinked when she pulled back, this time looking at him angrily. "You felt that thing trying to get into your mind, you knew you couldn't stop it! Kasterborous, I could feel it, too, and you didn't tell me anything about it!"

"Because I didn't want you to panic!" he protested, but he knew she wouldn't accept that answer.

He was right, because she shook her head instantly. "Don't you give me that excuse," she warned. "That's the worst possible excuse you could give! I've dealt with being possessed before, that sun was proof enough of that, but seeing you paralyzed like that, only able to repeat someone else's words?" She shook her head, and he could feel her anger fading, and terror replacing it. "That's the worst thing I've ever seen," she whispered, voice cracking.

The Doctor tugged her closer as any shell she'd formed cracked and fell away, closing his eyes, feeling tears of his own start to fall. "You saved my life," he whispered to her in Gallifreyan, reverting to the language of his home, the home he could have given her. "Focus on that, and that alone."

"I can't," Jessie whispered, his language flowing flawlessly. "It's all I can see, and I hate it!"

"What would anyone do to save the person they love?" the Doctor asked her, kissing the top of her head. "You warned them, and they didn't listen. You gave them a chance."

"No second chances," Jessie recalled. "That's the kind of people we are."

"What would anyone do to save the person they love?" the Doctor repeated.

Jessie's shaking settled to a small trembling, and the Doctor looked down at her to see that her crying had stopped, and he pulled her even closer. "I hate these kinds of break downs," she told him.

"Don't stop them," the Doctor told her. "Don't force yourself to be someone you aren't." He felt her tense again, and he cringed, realizing exactly what he'd just said. "Jezebel - "

"I forgive you," she whispered.

He was so shocked by that, he went back to English. "What?"

"I forgive you," she repeated herself, looking up at him, eyes red. "And don't do a triple what, please."

The Doctor shook his head. "Everything that I've done, everything that I've possibly done to show you that I don't deserve you - "

"Oh, trust me, I don't deserve you, either," Jessie said darkly with a forced laugh. "Everything I've been, given my past, I probably don't deserve you at all. Zip. Nada. But we're here anyway, aren't we?"

"To hell and back," the Doctor agreed.

"And it's going to stay that way for a very long time," Jessie told him. "What would I do to save the person I love?" She took his right hand in hers, pressing the scars made by the knife together. "Give up everything I could have had on Earth, everything I could've been, just to be here."

The Doctor swallowed. "Give up running," he told her truthfully. "I would give anything just once to just keep you safe."

Jessie smiled. "Your lines are getting better."

He smiled, kissing her gently, before laying down on the lounge chair with her, both of them not moving as they just stayed there, glad they had each other, and glad they weren't still stuck on that shuttle, with the possibility of death at any second.

Donna didn't complain at all when they returned to her and said they wanted to leave as soon as they could.

***

"How's it going?" Grant asked as he looked over the technicians' shoulders.

"We think we've settled the glitches," the technician replied. "No sudden disappearing and pulling in different directions."

"We can settle in one universe?"

"Yes."

Grant nodded, then straightened and turned to another monitor, seeing his third in command looking wearily at it. "Did you get through?" he asked.

"Yeah," Saleen replied simply. "The Doctor didn't see me. Jessie started turning right before the connection cut out."

Grant nodded, then handed her a dimension button. "Go."

Saleen looked at it in shock, then up at Grant. "You'd - ?" she asked in disbelief.

"Go and find her," Grant prompted, nodding to the platform as the technicians readied the dimension cannon.

Saleen's face split in a grin as she stood, grabbing her black jacket from where it was draped and putting it on. She ran to the platform, standing on it. "Ready to fire!" the technician reported.

"Fire when ready," Grant ordered.

"Firing in three, two - "

Grant saluted to Saleen, who nodded back and mouthed "Thank you" to him.

"One!"

Saleen vanished in a flash of light. Grant sighed. "Go and get her," he said to empty air.

It was time to find their way back to the other universe.

***

Torchwood SHIELD Director Grant Ward on the side, and the theme I think of for Saleen, Skye, and Grant's quest to find a way back to the other world. Also, italics in here also mean Gallifreyan.

So now we're getting to possibly my favorite part of the entire series! "Turn Left," "The Stolen Earth," and "Journey's End!" I can say that this will be a fixer for Donna's fate, but I will not say what happens instead. All that I'm saying . . . the Doctor and Jessie's bond together is going to be immensely affected. ;)

So stay tuned, folks! Watch for "School Reunion" on "Apocalypse Rising" so you'll know when I've started on "Turn Left!"