It's all AU.

Reinette was on the top of a skyscraper. She'd never seen a skyscraper before - she'd never seen a city like this. She'd seen Paris, but Paris in the 18th century was nothing compared to this. Up there, on top of the world, able to see for miles, and city extending as far as she could see.

"Someone just stole my wallet," Jack said, as he sat down beside someone he recognized, at a bar. "There's two things important about this. First: I don't have any money, and I'm pretty sure there's no economy here. Secondly: That's a touch of real city reality that's neither necessary or fun. " He paused and ordered a glass of water. "Finally, and yeah I know I said two things, my urge to try to sleep with the 'natives' is on the rise. Along with my cock. That's not gonna end well."

"You really thought I'd believe that?" Jack scoffed. "Seriously thought I'd believe the Doctor would do that? You're even more insane than I realised!"

The Master shrugged. "Believe what you want. It was in your head."

"Yeah - because you put it there!"

"If that's what you want to believe." The Master smiled thinly. "Or you could choose to believe the truth, that that's the reality of those two years you were missing. Up to you."

He snapped his fingers at the guards. "Take the Captain back to his room. Give him some time to think about all this."

The guards reached for Jack but he shrugged them off. "I can walk by myself, thanks," he said sourly. A small gesture, but the only one he had right now.

He pushed ahead of the guards, relieved to get off the bridge and away from the Master, and... out into a street???

Jack stood in the middle of the street, hands in his pockets, shaking his head as a slow smile crept onto his face. "Well, well, well. It's been a while."

It was still cold out, and John was irritated. Not enough to try to change anything about it, but still..

From goodness knows where he'd dragged up a long black military-looking woollen coat with bright red insignia on the lapels and the shoulder straps, and he pulled this around him against the chill in the air.

He was at the lake, standing on the jetty, when he heard the crunch of feet in the frost-covered gravel behind him. He didn't turn, just sniffed loudly, and took a long swig from the flask of alcohol in his hand. He placed it back slowly in his pocket, then blew hard on his cupped hands, despite the fact that they were already clad in thin leather gloves.

"Some prick froze the damn lake. Fuckin' idiots, " he muttered loudly.

Rose was all bundled up, and looking more chipper then she had in a while. The Doctor just had his coat on, as usual. A good 6 inches had blanketed the town, enough to really play in not enough to trap people indoor is they wanted to get out. The worked on a snowman for a bit, when Rose turned to the Doctor and commented, "Snowball fights work better with more people. Where is everyone?"

John was in his usual uniform, somewhat sweaty and grubby from weapons training. He was checking his sword for imaginary dints, sitting back against a tree, at rest under it. It was early evening, at least what passed for it around here, and there was a chill in the air.

Senses heightened in the dark, John was instantly aware when a twig was snapped beside a nearby tree. He didn't move, and carried on with what he was doing.

"It's polite to say hello, you know?" he drawled nonchalantly.

It was evening, and John was fidgeting in a  large leather-backed chair in the corner of the Hotel restaurant. He'd found a dark, dark red button down shirt, with black PVC detailing on the collartips, cuffs and along the pocket top, a series of three small d-rings across the shirt shoulders, and silver buttons. He was now wearing it with the top few buttons open, showing his fading bruises and the healed scratches underneath. His normally worn denim had been exchanged for a crisp black pair of jeans, and his normally slicked back hair had been recently washed and was gel free. It looked shades lighter without all the gunk in it, and it curled softly at the temple as it dried. Pulling once more at the cuffs of his shirt, he mentally cursed himself. This was stupid. Jamie was going to laugh. He was just setting himself up to fall here.

He sighed deeply and ordered a bowl of pistacchios from the server, mostly to have something to keep his hands busy whilst he waited. Putting the new strap on the table in front of him, he once more checked it's set up to make sure everything was perfect with it. Gods, he hoped Jame would go for it. When the pistacchios arrived, he shelled them at a ferocious pace, determined not to mess about any more.

He'd left messages at Jamie's room, at the notice board in the foyer, and in a couple of the local cafes he'd found. He only hoped that Jamie had seen them, and he wasn't going to be sat here all night.

Buffy stumbled towards home, shocked and numb. She'd just had sex with Spike. She'd just had sex with Spike! She had no idea how she was going to face anyone – including herself – ever again.

She wouldn't admit it but it was quite a relief, really, to look up and discover the road she was walking down was no longer road in suburban Sunnydale but instead a main road outside a very familiar hotel.

"Great," she said, staring up at it, hands on her hips. "Back in Nowheresville."

John was busy poking through a jumbled pile of food on his plate, coming up in triumph eventually with a croissant and some jam. He ripped the croissant apart and started liberally spreading jam on it, all the while swinging back on his chair.

That was never going to end well, and sure enough, John soon fell backwards, sending him flying onto the floor outside the cafe. He lay back on the floor giggling, before rolling to one side, and coming face to face with a pair of shoes.

"Ah, hi, you seem to have me at a disadvantage," he laughed, before looking up.

John was feeling good. More than good. In fact it could be said that he was feeling positively radiant.
( cut for length )

"Hey, outta' my light," he said squinting up, shielding his eyes, trying to make out who the culprit was. "Man's tryin' to work here."

The Master had acquired pastries and coffee, and was in search of Jack, in rather a cheerful mood. Things were on the mend with Jack, he hadn't seen the Doctor since he came here - though he thought he'd spotted his TARDIS at one point - and his mind was delightfully quiet.

He headed for the hotel, hoping that Jack had come back last night, even with him absent from the room, nearly running into someone unfamiliar in the lobby.

"Oh, sorry about that, a bit distracted," he said brightly, sidestepping rapidly, careful not to spill the cups of coffee he was holding.

( Cut for length and relevence )

A brilliant burst of orange and silver and gold lit up the landscape below him enough that he spotted movement, and Jack shifted, sprawling out so he was less visible, watching the person. He doubted he was completely hidden, but he would be harder to see like this, anyway.

Koschei peered over the shoulder of the server he'd coaxed out to the lake, nodding to himself at the charcoal, and the plates of meats waiting to grill to the demands of party guests. He grinned as he turned away, watching the path leading towards town for anyone who'd come down for the party.

John had spent a fun couple of hours with the Master, trying to investigate the bar droid further, then finally putting the damn thing back together. They hadn't found out anything more, but the time spent playing with electrics with a like-minded enthusiast had settled him. A lot. And the droid still worked. Which was. A bonus.

In fact, he was feeling so much more relaxed, he'd gone back out to the lake when they were done. Walking around the lake a bit from his usual haunt on the beach, he'd  found a sheltered area where a stream joined the lake.  He'd set up a kind of makeshift swing rope over the water, hung from a tree whose branches overlooked the lake, and was currently tugging hard on the rope to test it's strength before using it.

He saw a figure vaguely at the periphery of his vision, some way back from him, and called out to them, "Care for a swim?"

John had finally managed to get his hands on one of the hotel bar droids. So to speak.

He was currently sat cross-legged up on the bar, brow furrowed, muttering to himself around the screwdriver he had between his teeth, hands inside the droid's back. Out on the bar in front of him was his useful little bunch of metal toolkit pieces, his wriststrap, several random bunches of wires, and a bottle of an odd-looking pink spirit. 

He jumped back suddenly, narrowly avoiding a large electrical spark from inside the droid. The screwdriver dropped from his mouth, and he cursed loudly.

It was nighttime, or what passed as night round here anyway. John was at the lake. A lengthy swim had helped to shake out some of the cobwebs. He was currently lying back against the shoreline, stark naked, arms crossed above his head, staring up at the stars, wondering if any of the constellations up there were real. He didn't recognise any of them, which unnerved him slightly.

He let his eyelids close softly, and didn't bother opening them when he heard footsteps approaching.

"Hey gorgeous," he said quietly. "Come to join me?"

Continued from here and here.

Jack unlocked the door of the TARDIS and pushed it open, more relieved than he'd have liked to admit to see the Doctor and Romana in the console room.

He crossed to the Doctor without a word and just gathered him into a strong hug. Then eventually he let him go enough to look him over. "You all right?" he asked in a low voice.

After a moment's surprise, the Doctor hugged him back, but there wasn't much strength in his arms. "I'm fine," he told Jack, with as much of a smile as he could muster.

Then he looked over Jack's shoulder. "Hello John," he said, surprised again.

John had been standing under a tree out by the woods, sharpening his knife, when he felt a very distinct pull. He dropped the blade onto the floor, and held his hand to his forehead, eyes squeezed shut. His mind skittered as he tried to place it, but it was too garbled and faint to make much sense. Like a radio tuned to the wrong frequency. Too many snatched voices, and not enough clarity. He slumped down the tree until he was sitting at the base of it. 

He thumped the ground with his free hand and he growled low, as a strong twinge of pain racing through his head made him wince.

What the ever-loving fuck was that?

He was aware dimly that footsteps were approaching, and his eyes shot open to see..

Jack, standing over him.

"What the.." he managed to croak out, before letting his head drop back into his hand.

John had managed to extricate himself from the tangle of limbs that was himself and Jamie in the bed in his room. John'd been woken by a nightmare. It'd faded as soon as he was fully conscious, just leaving him feeling vaguely uneasy.

 He wasn't really sure whether it had been his own dream, or even if it'd been Jamie's. Jamie didn't seem too disturbed, apart from still frowning at something in his sleep. Either way, John was awake, and needed to take some time out, some fresh air, and a wee breather as it were.

Padding over the the chest of drawers, he found a pair of sweatpants. He would've been happy just leaving the room with no clothes, but oh no, we don't want to upset the locals now, do we? John rolled his eyes to himself as he put the pants on. He grabbed a rug from the bed, as he was a bit chilly, and pulled it round his shoulders. Moving quietly across the room, John opened the door, wincing as it creaked slightly.

Taking a look down the corridor, he saw a water cooler. Grabbing himself several plastic cups worth, he settled down in the doorway to his room, door open. John tilted his head back, eyes shuttered, just thinking things over.

Jamie woke suddenly, but without movement, eyes snapping open and. Inspecting the Doctor's shoulder. Okay. He exhaled carefully and slowly pulled away, not wanting to wake the other man, especially after he dealt with Jamie's hysteria the previous night.

He dropped to the floor and pulled on his trousers and shirt in the dark with the ease of some serious practice. He then headed out of his room and down towards the dining room. He hadn't made it very far before he saw a familiar head of hair, "John."