The Doctor rubbed his chin bewilderedly. "Now that's odd."

Rebecca looked up from the book she was reading. "What is?"

He stared at the Tardis monitor, apparently lost in thought.

She sighed and went back to her book.

He slammed his hand against the console, the loud bang causing her to jump up in alarm and drop the book to the floor.

"Never a dull moment around here," Rose exclaimed as she walked down the steps into the room. She picked up Rebecca's book and handed it to her with a smile. "You okay?"

Rebecca laughed. "Yeah, just startled me is all." She scooted over on the bench and Rose sat down next to her. She threw one of her legs over Rebecca's thigh and the dark haired girl smiled at her indulgently.

"A distress signal just came through," the Doctor said without looking up. "Rather suddenly, as a matter of fact."

"Where's it coming from? Rose asked.

His brow furrowed in concentration. "Actually, it's coming from Becks old neck of the woods."

Rebecca looked up. "It is?"

He pressed a few buttons, then looked back up at the screen. "Someplace about an hour or so from where we picked you up. Hamilton? Does that area sound familiar?"

When she didn't answer right away he turned around to glance at her, and was startled to see that she had turned frightfully pale. Her lips were compressed into a thin line and he could see her knuckles turning white as they clenched the side of the armrest.

"You okay?" Rose asked worriedly.

Rebecca cleared her throat. "Yes, I'm fine. I...in fact I grew up near there. My family still lives in that area."

"That's great," Rose said cheerily. "Maybe we can pop in on them when we go to check out the signal." She turned to the Doctor. "Are we going to investigate it?"

The Doctor continued to keep his eyes on Rebecca, who had gotten some of her color back but was now rubbing her forehead as if to dispel a headache. Something had obviously jolted her, and it didn't take a genius to see that it had to do with visiting her old hometown. He was worried about her. Still, he couldn't just ignore a distress call, especially one that was as encrypted and enigmatic as this one was. He would just have to keep a closer eye on her in this instance, make sure she was okay. He turned back to the controls and started adjusting the coordinates. "Yes, we certainly are. The signal came via an encrypted code, it wasn't specifically seeking the Tardis, we just happened to intercept it. Don't know if it's a friend or foe, so it should be pretty exciting to check it out, eh?"

"Yeah," Rebecca said quietly, "Exciting."

Later on, after Rebecca had gone to bed, Rose leaned against the railing watching the Doctor fix some wiring that had burnt out she asked, "has she said anything at all to you about her family?"

"Who?" the Doctor asked as he used the sonic screwdriver to melt a fused terminal.

Rose rolled her eyes. "Who do you think? Rebecca of course!"

His brow furrowed in concentration. "No. Can't say that she has."

"Don't you think that's strange? What if they're dead? I mean, having one parent dead is hard enough, but what if they're both gone? That's really sad, don't you think? Should we ask her?"

The Doctor stopped what he was doing and looked at her seriously. "Usually people's family comes up in conversation, yeah? Well, since she HASN'T brought them up, don't you think that means she doesn't want to talk about it?"

Rose bit her lip. "But we're her friends. I want her to know she can trust us."

He smiled. "Nothing says trust like hopping into a big blue time traveling box with a couple of strangers, eh? Don't think you need to worry about that. She trusts us."

Rose smiled at him.

"Ah well," he said as he turned back to his work. "It's probably not a big deal anyway. Her family situation, I mean. Not everyone likes to prattle on about their relatives like you do."

"Hey!" Rose exclaimed, smacking him lightly on the arm.

The Doctor passed by Rebecca's room on his way to bed. The door was closed, which was slightly unusual in an of itself, since for the most part she usually kept it open most of the time. He paused at her door. As much as he wanted to help her get through whatever she was feeling, he also didn't want to be too intrusive to her privacy, which was mostly why he advised Rose not to bring it up to her. But he still felt compelled to make sure she was alright. She was his companion, and he cared for her, for both her and Rose. And the thought of her being in any kind of distress hurt his hearts. He knocked softly on her door.

A moment later she answered, "Doctor?"

He smiled, even though she couldn't see it. "How did you know it was me?"

He heard a muffled laugh. "Because Rose doesn't knock, she just barges right in."

He chuckled. "So true. Very adamant, our Rose. I just wanted to make sure you were alright."

There was a pause and then the sound of sheets rustling. He assumed she was coming to the door. "I'm okay," she replied.

"Okay," he said, knowing she probably wasn't, but unsure of what else he could do for her at that moment. "Have a good night, Becks."

"You too Doctor."

He laid his hand and forehead against the door, wishing he could help her. After a few minutes he sighed softly and walked away.

Rebecca stood with her back against the opposite side of the same door, with her eyes closed, wishing she had enough inner strength to ask her friends for help.

~*~To be continued