Rose Tyler wanted to close her eyes and keep them closed for a very long time. Her arms were tightly clamped around the Doctor's shoulders, and she felt his around her waist, lifting her off the ground. The clung to each other as if they would never let go, and with good reason.

I almost lost 'im, Rose thought. She buried her face in his shoulder and silently vowed never to leave his side again.

"Oh Rose," the Doctor said gently. "I thought..." he trailed off as he decided not to speak.

Rose wiped away a stray tear and grinned widely as she looked at the Doctor's face. "Oh God," she half-sobbed, half-laughed. "I thought you were gone forever. I thought we were all gone forever."

The Doctor smiled at her and laughed. "You doubted me?"

"No! Of course not, but after Zach dragged me to that rocket, I thought...I thought it was all over." She shivered as she thought of what would have happened had she stayed in the base.

I couldn't save the Ood, he'd said. Only had time for one stop.

She silently hugged the Doctor closer as tears streamed down her face.

"If I'd been told," he whispered, "that you...stayed, Rose, I would 'ave..." he stopped suddenly and Rose could feel his muscles stiffen nervously. He stood up straighter and brushed a strand of hair from Rose's face, cupping her cheek gently in his hand, and turned to the TARDIS controls.

"You," he spoke louder now, "should definitely get some sleep. Almost got sucked into a black hole and killed by insane telepathic...noodly things; you must be exhausted."

Rose snorted at his description of the Ood, and nodded. "Alright. And what about you?"

The Doctor raised his eyebrows. "What about me?"

"You almost lost the TARDIS, almost got sucked into a black hole. Then you jumped into a big black pit with the Devil. I'd say you need more rest than I do," she replied, laughing.

He merely grinned at this, and shook his head, looking down at the console. "I'm fine, Rose." He pointed towards the doorway that led to countless other rooms, and said, "Sleep. Now, please. Doctor's orders," he grinned and winked at her.

Rose smiled and left, walking slowly to her room. She doubted she'd sleep much with the memory of Toby and the look in his eyes, his voice speaking the words of the beast. She shivered as she remembered his words about dying in battle.

The Doctor watched Rose leave, and when she was gone, he collapsed in a chair and held his head in his hands. He'd almost lost her. He promised to protect her, and she'd almost been sucked into a bloody black hole! His hands were shaking at the thought of losing her, and for the first time in a long time, he felt his eyes begin to water. Breathing in deeply, he ran his hands roughly over his face, brushing away the tears that had begun to grow in his eyes. He shook his head and stood up, tinkering with the TARDIS, pointlessly. He wasn't paying attention to that.

When Ida and Rose had switched places, Zach pulled him aside while Ida and Rose hugged each other tearfully, and told him what had happened after losing communications. How they'd had to put Rose to sleep and force her to leave that desolate, cold rock. She'd begged to stay, to wait for him, and Zach had taken her life as his responsibility and saved her. The Doctor was stunned. He thanked Zach profusely, hugging him and babbling on about how he was "absolutely fantastic, brilliant!"

In reality, he wanted to scream. If Rose had stayed, if she'd waited for him, she would not exist anymore. The black hole would have consumed her along with the Ood and the beast in the pit. The Doctor felt sick to his stomach.

He suddenly felt very tired, and sat back down in the chair, leaning back to look at the glowing ceiling of the TARDIS. He cleared his mind of all the dark thoughts flying about, with help from the TARDIS, of course, the glowing lights above relaxed him. She sang to him, the beautiful song of the TARDIS, and he fell asleep under the glowing lights.

"...so far from home," the voice of the Beast growled through the screen. "The valiant child who will die in battle so very soon." An evil rumble arose from the mine shaft, a horrible, deep laughter, and Rose was alone. Jefferson and Danny and Toby were gone; the Doctor and Ida were down in that horrible hole in the ground.

"Doctor!" she screamed. Her lungs burned, yet the scream was little more than a whisper.

"Your Doctor is gone," a voice said behind her. Yet, it wasn't behind her. It was above her, below her, in front of and behind her. She crouched down and covered her head with her arms. She screamed silently. She heard nothing but the laughter of the beast.

"Such a brave little girl, traveling so far from home, aspiring to see the Universe. And are you pleased, little girl, with the things you have seen?" the voice growled. "You have seen so much, and nothing at all. And you won't see it, because soon, oh, so soon, you will be dead."

Rose uncovered her head and looked up, to see Toby, his face covered in the impossibly old letters of this horrible place, his eyes glowing red. Those eyes peered into her mind, reading her like a book. It shook her mind until every terrible memory and feeling had been brought to the forefront of her consciousness. It maddened her. She curled into a fetal position and cried, whimpering to herself, her eyes squeezed tightly shut.

"Doctor, help me, please," she cried.

"He's gone!" Toby roared, the Beast roared. "He's gone! You're alone!" That horrible laughter filled her ears, her mind; she thought she would die.

"Rose!" a voice called out to her from beyond the dark damned planet. "Rose!"

"Help me," she whispered, tears flowing freely down her face. "Please help me."