Chapter Four: Cardiff

Lisa had to make sure she properly said goodbye to the TARDIS before she left. She stood inside the machine in the dim light, for they – along with the whole machine – had powered down when the Doctor died.

The machine, however, still retained that low hum, leading Lisa to believe that the old girl was still living in her own way.

“I promised the Doctor I’d bring you somewhere safe…” she was saying. “And there’s no safest place than Alnilam…” She ran her hand along the console, feeling the faint vibrations in the circuitry. “You’ll be safe, here. No one will touch you. You’ll stay here until the end of time.”

Tears in her eyes, she left the TARDIS and shut the door. It locked behind her, and she put the chain the key was on around her neck along with her ankh, tucking it safely beneath her shirt.

“All right…” she said to no one in particular. Medicus had been called away on an emergency, leaving Lisa alone with her thoughts and grief. She took a shaky breath, then concentrated.

Back to Cardiff… she thought to herself. Back to Cardiff and back to Jack…please let this work…

She concentrated as hard as she could on an image of Jack Harkness she had in her mind. The dark hair, the haunted blue eyes…

She could see him in her mind, and she focused on being wherever he was.

Light and energy crackled over her body and she teleported away from Alnilam to Earth.

She reappeared in a somewhat familiar surrounding, though the sun had set. She recognized Cardiff Bay and the Millennium Center, and she’d appeared just in front of the fountain. She remembered that this was where the TARDIS had sat a long time ago. She wiped fresh tears from her face and tuned in her hearing to find Jack.

Her hearing zeroed in on the middle of a conversation. Two men were talking.

“…I want to die,” said one. She didn’t recognize the voice.

“You don’t get reunited, John,” said the other. His voice dropped to a harsh whisper, “It just goes black.”

“How do you know?”

“I died once.”

“Jack…” Lisa whispered. The second voice belonged to Jack. But where was he?

“Who are you?” the first male – John – asked.

“A man, like you, out of his time.” His voice dropped to a whisper. “Alone and scared.” Jack’s voice was trembling. She had to find him.

“How do you cope?” John asked.

“It’s just bearable,” Jack answered. “It has to be. I don’t have a choice.”

“But I do? If you want to help me, then let me go with some dignity. Don’t condemn me to live.”

“Are you scared?” Jack whispered.

“Yes.”

“Oh, Jack…” Lisa said in a hushed voice. She spread her wings and took to the skies, trying to lock her mind onto his thoughts, but, then, she remembered that she couldn’t read his mind due to the force that had brought him back to life. Instead, she focused on trying to find his voice again, but there was nothing.

No, wait; there was something…someone crying softly. That, coinciding with the emptiness that she got from his mind told her that it was coming from Jack. She followed the sound to an old, abandoned and boarded up building on Park Place in Grangetown.

She landed without being noticed and started poking around the building, trying to find a way in. However, before she could find the way in, someone was already walking out. He was tall, with dark hair and wearing a long overcoat. No thoughts came from him, only quiet sobs. It had to be.

“Jack?” she called tentatively.

The man paused, but didn’t turn around until she called his name once more. Then, his eyes, swollen from crying, widened.

“Oh, god,” he whispered. “Lisa?”

End chapter four.

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