The shapes Rose and Robert had seen did in fact turn out to be buildings, but they were uninhabited.

"Where are all the people?" Rose wondered aloud.

Robert punched some buttons on his vortex manipulator. "No idea," he murmured. "Retroactive lifesign scan… it's like there were never any people here, nothing living at all."

Rose felt a chill run through her. "But there's all these buildings. Someone had to be here." Tentatively, she approached one, a two-story clapboard house that probably wouldn't have looked so sinister if it had had some pleasant lighting or nice curtains.

"What are you doing?" asked Robert, behind her.

"You said there's nothing alive," she said as she turned the doorknob. "Nothing that can hurt us, yeah?"

"I'm not picking up anything on my scans," he said simply. Rose took a few steps forward.

"I think it's safe," she said.

"How do you know?"

She hesitated. "I don't know," she said. It felt like something was pulling her, willing her to go into that building and then… She saw it as clearly as if it had been right in front of her. There would be another door and another door and some stairs and a long, dark tunnel, but it was calling to her, the Bad Wolf, and it would take her where she needed to go. "This is the right way," she said simply. "To get back to the Doctor and Jack. This is the right way."

Robert didn't say anything, but he did take a couple steps forward. "I just have this feeling," he said, shaking his head. "Something's not right here. Something's wrong."

She turned to face him. "If you don't trust me, what are you going to do?" she asked.

He looked taken aback.

"You don't have any other choice," she told him. "You can come with me, or you can keep walking. What's the worst that could happen?"

Robert hesitated for another moment and then drew his gun. "Just to be on the safe side," he said. Cautiously, he reached for the doorknob and turned it.

**

The Doctor watched Jack fall. He knew what would happen next–hoped he knew what would happen next.

It took longer than he thought his hearts could hold out for, but it happened. The blaster burns were rapidly healing over with new skin; the only indication anything had happened to him was some singed hair on the back of his head. Jack sucked air back into his lungs with a gasp. The Doctor bolted for him but both guards' blasters clicked and he froze.

"How'd he do that?" asked Hauser. He said it in the kind of tone that made the Doctor think that if they had been four thousand years earlier and actually on Earth, he'd have been accusing them of witchcraft.

"You couldn't even begin to understand," muttered the Doctor.

Jack coughed.

"Get in the truck," said Rye, "or we see how many times your boyfriend can do that neat little trick before he stays dead."

The Doctor helped a still dazed and coughing Jack to his feet. They were hustled unceremoniously into the pitch blackness of the back of the transport, the darkness only increasing when Rye and Hauser slammed the doors. The Doctor heard the deadlock click with a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. He couldn't get them out of this.

Jack shifted, indicating that he wanted to be let down, so the Doctor eased them both to the floor. Jack sank against the Doctor's shoulder.

"What just happened?" he asked plaintively.

"You died," said the Doctor, wrapping an arm around his shoulders. "And you came back to life."

"I could tell that," said Jack testily. At least his attitude hadn't died with him, though he still remained pressed close to the Doctor. "How?"

The Doctor hesitated. He remembered when it had happened. He had known when Rose had done it, yet it had still been jarring to see Jack when he'd stepped into the TARDIS. The Doctor's first instinct had been to run, to take Rose away from the thing that was wrong, oh so wrong, but his rational side had prevailed–this was still Jack after all, and nothing had changed in him beyond that.

Instead, the Doctor had pulled Jack close and kissed him, trying to forget. He had truly been glad to have him back–it certainly wasn't that he'd rather Jack was dead. And then, after regenerating, he had… learned to live with it.

Looking at Jack hadn't bothered him for weeks and their relationship was now back to normal. If Jack had noticed the initial strain, he hadn't said anything, plus, it had come at the same time Jack and Rose were getting used to the Doctor's new body, so a little awkwardness was to be expected.

"Rose," said the Doctor quietly. "It was Rose."

Jack stiffened. "When she...?"

"Yes. You... died." He glanced at Jack's expression. "I think you knew you were dead." Jack nodded. The Doctor took a deep breath. "You died and she brought you back. But it was forever. Jack... you'll never... be able to die."

Jack slid away from him in the dark. "You knew," he said darkly. "You knew for weeks after it happened and you didn't tell me."

"It's not like that," said the Doctor quickly. "I was trying to protect you. I thought... I thought maybe you'd never find out, or maybe you wouldn't find out for a long time."

"And I'd just wonder, gee, why do I keep coming back to life?"

"You know I didn't mean it like that."

They were both silent for a long time. The only sound was the rocking of the truck beneath them.

"I'm sorry," the Doctor said finally. "I should have told you as soon as it happened. I didn't want you... I didn't want you to blame Rose."

"Never," said Jack firmly. "God, that's the last thing I'd do." He slid closer to the Doctor. After a moment, he said, in a light tone, "Now you'll never get rid of me."

The Doctor felt his lips twitch. "Never thought of it that way."

"Rose'll never hear the end of it."

"Don't tell her," said the Doctor quickly.

"I wasn't going to," said Jack. There were another few minutes of silence. The Doctor knew they were both thinking about what this meant for Rose. It made him far more concerned for her, now knowing that he could only really lose one of them. He hugged Jack to him.

"We'll find her," he whispered.

"I know," said Jack. Then he added, "Anything you want me to do, I'll do it. Least I can do is make myself useful, right?"

"Jack," said the Doctor warningly, "what are you thinking about doing?"

Jack staggered to his feet, difficult to do in the speeding truck. He banged hard on the metal wall. "Let us out!" he roared.

"Don't be stupid," snapped the Doctor, grabbing the back of his coat and yanking him back down. "I didn't realize immortality turned you into an idiot."

Jack sat up indignantly. "So what do you suggest we do?"

The Doctor leaned back against the side of the truck, putting his feet up in Jack's lap. "Well, Gerardo, I say we let them take us to their leader."

**

Rose and Robert found themselves in a long corridor with a threadbare carpet in a dull shade of red. The collection of vases on the side table didn't look the least bit dusty. It was dark, though, with the sunlight outside fading rapidly. Robert reached into his pack and handed Rose a large torch.

"I'll go first," he cautioned her. "Give me some light."

Rose carefully shined the light down the hall in front of them. "It's a hotel," she murmured, pointing at the large desk at the end of the corridor. On the wall behind it was a pegboard on which hung rows of keys under number plates. None seemed to be missing.

Robert strode forward, checking around the corners with his gun out, like Rose had seen police officers do on telly. She didn't know what he expected to find, though.

"Looks like the coast is clear," he said, but he didn't put his gun away. "So where do we go from here?"

Rose turned slowly, trying to get her bearings. The pull she'd felt outside had been so strong but she seemed to have lost it now.

"I don't know," she said slowly.

Robert sighed. "What kind of ship is this, anyway?"

"Not an ordinary ship," she said, as she approached the wall the keys were hanging on. "I mean, the Doctor's not an ordinary man. The TARDIS is… well, it's almost alive. The Doctor says he's got this psychic link with her, and one time I… I…"

"What?" Robert prompted, intrigued.

Rose felt her stomach flip-flop. "I just can't remember. It's like it's sealed off, like I can't tell you." She paused, and then deliberately turned left. "I think this is the right way." She opened a door that almost seemed meant to be hidden; it was covered in wallpaper.

"How are you determining this anyway?" Robert asked, stooping to follow her into the low passageway.

"Bad wolf," she said simply, brushing a cobweb away from her face. "I told you I don't quite understand it, but I know where I'm going. I can find the TARDIS and the Doctor and Jack."

Robert seemed to take this in stride. "I've seen weirder things," he said.

The passage they were walking in turned out to be one of those. Abruptly, at what was apparently the end of the hotel, the passage's walls turned from unfinished boards to dirt. The wet chill seeped through Rose's clothes and she shivered.

"I hope this wolf is leading you in the right direction," Robert remarked.

"I think so. There's a light." She pointed. About twenty yards in front of them, they passage came to a dead end but there was light along the dirt.

"Now how do you figure that?" Robert lengthened his strides. "If I didn't know any better..."

He reached the end of the passage and shoved on the packed earth. It opened.

**

When the truck came to a stop, Jack tensed.

"Don't do anything stupid," the Doctor reminded him.

"Did you think I was going to?" Jack hissed back. He took the Doctor's silence for a yes.

Jack heard the cab doors open and close and then footsteps as Rye and Hauser came around to open the back. Jack's first instinct was to ignore the Doctor's warning and lunge for their weapons–the knowledge that they couldn't kill him opened up a lot of new possibilities, but he wasn't sure what they would do to the Doctor if Jack fought back. It probably was better for them to play it safe, as much as he hated to admit it.

The doors opened. The Doctor pushed Jack off him and stood up. Jack did a double take. They definitely weren't in the English countryside anymore. The truck had stopped in a long hallway, which possessed no identifying characteristics. For all Jack knew, this was some base in a nearby village or a seabase several galaxies away.

"Get out," ordered Rye. The Doctor complied, Jack following his lead. "Good," said the guard, nodding. "You're learning. Now keep that up and you won't run into anymore trouble."

"Oh, well, that's disappointing," said the Doctor. "I quite like trouble. You could even say Trouble's my middle name. John Trouble Smith, that's me."

Rye and Hauser ignored this and began forcing the Doctor and Jack down the hallway. Jack didn't like being manhandled, except on rare occasions when the Doctor was the man doing the handling, but after a firm look from the Doctor, he decided not to struggle.

"I guess I can't persuade you to tell me who you are or who you work for," said the Doctor conversationally. "Since you've got us rather cornered and all." The look Rye gave him told him he wouldn't even dignify that with a response. The Doctor sighed. "It was worth a try," he said to Jack.

After a few minutes of walking through a maze of corridors, in which Jack became completely disoriented, they came to a row of cells. Hauser tapped a keypad on the wall and the door swung open. He shoved Jack inside. Rye was about to send the Doctor in after him when there was a crackle of static from the com link on his ear.

"What?" He glanced at Hauser. Hauser shrugged.

"Looks like you're going upstairs," he said to the Doctor. "She wants you."

The Doctor raised an eyebrow. "Now that sounds interesting. I'm very curious to find out who this 'she' you're talking about really is. It's almost like my birthday! If… I had a birthday, that is. And if, for my birthday, my friends kidnapped me." He looked at Jack. "Don't… don't kidnap me for my birthday, all right?"

Jack shook his head. "I don't even know when your birthday is."

The Doctor cocked his head. "Well… it varies. You might say–"

"Shut up." Rye twisted the Doctor's arm sharply. "You're coming with us, he's staying here."

The Doctor yanked himself free of Rye's grasp and hurled himself at Jack, throwing his arms around his neck and kissing him firmly.

Jack stumbled a bit and by the time a scowling Rye had pulled the Doctor back, he was breathing hard. "Wow," he said.

The Doctor winked, just as Hauser slammed the cell door and helped Rye drag the Doctor away, leaving Jack alone in silence. He slid to the floor with a sigh. He'd been in worse prison conditions, so he couldn't really complain–the cell was pretty nice as prisons went. He didn't like being separated from the Doctor, though.

Glumly, he stuck his hand in the pocket of his coat. It brushed something cold and metal. Jack blinked. What could that be? He pulled it out.

It was the sonic screwdriver.

Jack's face broke into a grin. "Oh, you brilliant bastard."