Finally figured out a good way to write out my Doctor Who story idea. YAY!

On the downside, in spite of all my secret schemes and rather hazardous plots, I do not own Doctor Who. And believe-me-you, when it comes to crazy plans thought up inside a minute, I'm your girl. Always have to shoot down the crazy global-conquest ideas I come up at a rate of a dozen an hour. But sadly, the plots to take over DW (the new series at least) aren't working. If one did, my fan-chars would be canon characters, David Tennant would have stayed the Doctor, Doomsday would have ended differently, and even if Rose still got stuck in an alternate dimension, she would have stayed with the real Doctor in Journey's End, assuming it happened, or have come back during Midnight so she could scare the other Crusader 50 passengers with her protectiveness of the Doc… 10.5 wouldn't have existed, especially not to stick in an alternate reality with Rose. And if anyone got stuck in the TARDIS in JE, it would have been Rose, not Donna, and just so Bad Wolf could come back. But sadly, none of that is canon, proving that I do not own Doctor Who. …it would make for a great birthday present though...

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"...and how the heck are you so calm about this? In case you missed it the first time, we have crashed on some unknown planet, all because you didn't listen when I said to stay away from the black hole! What good is three years' worth of power if we don't know where we are?"

Rose signaled for her team to stay where they were, crawling through the grass to get a look at the people from the alien spaceship that crashed. She hoped that they were friendly, because her superior at Torchwood wanted these aliens brought in no matter what. Their craft had literally appeared out of nowhere on the radar, which meant they had to have some kind of cloaking device.

"I know where we are, Emrys. Earth, just not our Earth. Sorta," a girl's voice said, and although she still couldn't see the speaker, if Rose had to guess, she would put the girl at her teens in age. "There was a rip between dimensions. This, Emrys, is where the Cybermen came from. And do you remember what else is here?"

"This is the Cybermen world?" the male, Emrys, asked, and Rose was able to get in a position so she could see the speakers. The boy had curly black hair, while the girl had long brown hair with an obvious red tinge which was pulled back in a ponytail. And slightly surprising were the ages. Neither of them could have been over twenty-five by human standards. Of course, some other people could also pass for far less than their actual age, Rose thought somewhat bitterly.

"Oh, you and that brilliant, beautiful mind of yours, Seren!" Emrys shouted happily, lifting the girl off the ground and spinning her around. Then he paused, holding her at arm's length. "We didn't crash, did we?"

"Nope," Seren said. "Oh, and I know you're there, Rose Tyler. A bit hard to find, you are. Bad enough we're warping across all of time and space trying to find the Doctor, but trying to find a way into a parallel dimension? Definitely harder."

"How did you know I was there?" Rose asked, suspicious.

"It's comes with the territory," Seren said, shrugging. "Of course, you did travel with the Doctor, and as far as I know, he isn't even aware that we exist… So I guess I can't blame you for not realizing and the fact I had to create a Time Drive out of stolen Time Agency tech wouldn't help in the recognition process… Bet even the Doctor will be a bit confused!"

"We're Time Lords," Emrys explained, seeing Rose's confused expression. "I'm seventy years old, but Seren is only eighteen, as in actually eighteen. Yet she outsmarts almost every single 'adult' Time Lord and contacts this guy who yanks the both of us off Gallifrey before the Time Lock goes up. Since then we've been using that crazy little ship to hop about the universe."

"My ship does NOT hop!" Seren shouted, turning on Emrys. "The Kirligo is a highly sensitive ship, and if you keep insulting it, I will kick you out. I'd like to see you find the Doctor on your own. 'Sides, it's not my fault that you fail to understand the concept of the Time Drive. And before you say anything, there's a good reason I refuse to use the T.D. and Warp at the same time. Anything faster than standard space speed could punch a hole in the Time Vortex."

"Wait a minute," Rose said. "He said you were eighteen… How do you know all that?"

"She never says," Emrys said. "She just applies her knowledge, never explains where she got it from. I haven't got a clue where she learned to fly, but it's a good thing she did, because there hadn't been TARDIS license tests since before I was 'born'."

"Look, let's not go into a dissection of how messed up the Time lords got during the Time War," Seren said. "We've only got four hours before the hole we came through closes, and I really don't want to have to search this universe for another… Do you have any clue how long that takes? 'Sides, the sooner we're back, the sooner we can say 'bye-bye' to the mopey Doc, not that we ever said hello in the first place, but still; cos he'll have his Rose back. Or did you think I was trying to find a way over here just to say hello?" The last question was directed at Rose, who stared wide-eyed as she realized what was being offered.

"You… you came here just to find me?" Rose asked in disbelief. "I… I don't what to say…"

"Can it wait 'til we are back in our dimension?" Seren asked. "Cos now we only have three hours, fifty eight minutes, and… thirty seconds."

Rose nodded, words suddenly failing her. "I just need to grab some stuff and say good-bye, but… Don't go anywhere."

"I'm assuming you've going to go back to your team and then proceed to waste a good half an hour getting back to your home, so I've got a faster way," Seren said, and Rose only now realized how short the girl was. She was five-six, tops, possibly shorter. "Tell your team to go back to Torchwood, and the three of us can just go straight to the Tyler estate. Vortex manipulator," she explained, tapping the device on her wrist. "Bought this one, stole the other six I needed for the Time Drive."

Rose did so, and even though she didn't like the feeling of this particular method of transport, her spirits were unfazable. She finally had a way back to the Doctor, even if it came at the hands of a possible time-travelling petty criminal.

"I just stole the parts cos the TA wouldn't have sold me them in a trillion years, but they didn't know it was me, which is why I was able to convince them to sell me my manipulator," Seren said, and Rose was surprised to find herself at the place she still wasn't able to call her home, even after almost three years. "Bit more of a telepath than most Time Lords," Seren explained at the slightly confused look she got. "But I really suggest you go say goodbye and all, because we ain't got all the time in the universe. Hmm, now there's a concept… A Time Lord running out of time. The ultimate in irony. That happened, actually…"

"Go," Emrys said. "She does this a fair bit. Get your stuff, say goodbye, all that. We'll wait here."

Seren just nodded, now muttering indistinctly to herself. However, she did slip the back pack off her shoulder and hand to Rose. "It's bigger on the inside," Seren said before she resumed her musing.

Rose wasted no time packing her stuff, although it hurt a bit more than she thought it would to tell her mother goodbye, knowing she could never come back.

"Make sure Tony knows about me, would ya?" Rose asked of Jackie.

"Of course," Jackie promised, tears flowing. "He'll know all about you and the Doctor… I knew this was going to happen, you know. Someday, you were going to find a way back to him. And I'm so glad you did. Yes, Rose, I'll miss you, but I've seen you without the Doctor. Just… Be careful, Rose."

"Always, Mum," Rose promised, hugging Jackie, tears streaking down her face. "I love you."

"I know," Jackie said. "But you love him, too."

Rose just nodded. After another hug, she pulled away, walking back out to where Seren and Emrys waited.

"Got everything? Said your farewells?" Seren asked. "Fantastic. That hole we came through is deteriorating faster than I thought it would. We need to go." A flash, caused by the manipulator, and they were back in the clearing, the sleek black ship parked at the opposite end. "Tada! The Kirligo. Once a basic spaceship, now the best non-TARDIS time machine there is!" Seren said, the pride unmistakable in her voice. "Tried to turn it into a TARDIS, in fact."

"How?" Rose asked as Emrys toke her bag from her to put in one of the spare cabins. As far as Rose could tell, this small ship with its five cabins was just that, a spaceship, not a TARDIS with its dimensionally transcendental interior.

"I've got a chunk of what you grow TARDISes from, it looks a bit like coral, and I'm trying to hook it up to the Time Drive," Seren said. "Unfortunately, it didn't work. And I didn't a very big chunk, either. It burnt on me… I just… I wanted Emrys to have something more than a fob watch to remember Gallifrey by."

"You love him," Rose said. Seren just nodded, hazel eyes closed. Rose checked over her shoulder to make sure Emrys wasn't there, and she ducked down to whisper in Seren's ear, "And wanna know what I think? I think he loves you right back." Seren looked up at her, eyes clearing displaying her shock. "I saw how he was looking at you, Seren."

"Ok," Emrys said, and Seren quickly hopped into the pilot's seat before he noticed her and Rose talking together. "Rose, your stuff is in the cabin next to Seren's. So, got anything?"

"Let's get back to our universe first, thanks," Seren said curtly, engines whirring to life. "Rose, you take the gunner station. Hopefully we won't have to use the ion cannons, but better safe than sorry, eh? Emrys, you on navigation. I need to know the instant we re-enter our universe, because I need to use the warp and Time Drive simultaneously to get back through the window, and we'll being coming out where we came in, meaning I've got to outmaneuver a black hole… Blimey. I sound like a battle captain," she said as they took off.

"It was a battle ship," Emrys offered, trying to be helpful. "Besides, I would rather have you as Captain than someone like the Master or something. Now, there was a nutter…"

"I'll explain and soon as we're in the clear," Seren promised. "You know, we really need to pick someone else up. I need a co-pilot for situations like these…"

"Exiting Earth's atmosphere now," Emrys said, and Rose was relieved to notice that the controls were displayed in English. "Approaching the window at a speed of forty relms."

"Relms?" Rose asked.

"System to measure the speed when time-travelling we made up," Seren explained. "Emrys didn't get much chance to learn the actual term, and I was too busy trying to listen to what the Schism was telling me."

"What?" Rose asked, now thoroughly confused.

"The Untempered Schism," Emrys explained. "It's a gap in the fabric of reality. You can see into the Time Vortex, which I really suggest not doing, and it hurts. A lot. But apparently some people can hear something when the stare into it, which is required as an initiation ritual thing on Gallifrey. Legend says the Master, who is a nutter if there ever was one, starting hearing 'the drums' then, but I know for a fact Seren heard something. Passing through window now."

"Hang everyone, I can't guarantee the stability of this bit," Seren said, shoving the control yoke forward. The ship lurched, and Rose grabbed the gunner controls to stabilize herself. Luckily they weren't active at the moment, or there was a chance she could have accidently fired the ion cannons. A flash, and suddenly the ship jerked as the black hole tried to pull them in. "I don't think so!" Seren shouted, flipping a switch which cut the Time Drive power. "And… We've clear!" Just to emphasize that point, Seren pulled the Kirligo to stand-still, and it stayed where it was.

"We did it," she whispered, spinning the chair around to better see her fellow ship mates. "Oh my gosh, we actually did it!" Rose was surprised when she leapt up and proceeded to pull an impressive flip. "YES! Oh, there are no words to describe this!" The next thing Rose knew, Seren had enveloped her in a fierce hug. "Oh, so many things to tell the Doctor, but so much more to show him… Oh, come on!" Seren stormed over to the main controls, glaring at a gauge, forcing Rose to wonder if Seren might be bipolar. "Dimension hopping should not just about drain the ship! Ah, well, looks like we need a proper refuel this time. Say, Rose, you wouldn't happen to know where I could find a Rift, would you? Maybe somewhere in England, say?"

"There's one in Cardiff," Rose said. "The Doctor stopped there once to refuel. That was back when he had the big ears…"

"Ninth regeneration," Seren said, nodding as she inputted coordinates into the ship's computers. "He's going through 'em a bit fast. On ten already, and he ain't even close to half the normal life span for a Time Lord… Each regeneration should last at least 200 years, and yet he's only 907 and has burnt through ten of his regenerations. Has he forgotten that he's only got a limited amount? Sure, he's got a few more than most Time Lords because of a glitch during the looming process, but still. His ninth regeneration lasted him what, a year, tops? He better start being a bit more careful, because I don't care if that blasted glitch caused him to be all different, it does not give him an excuse to waste regenerations because he has no sense of self-preservation…"

"Glitch?" Rose asked.

"I'll explain once we land…" Seren said. "But I believe we promised to explain a couple of other things first. Like the Master, for instance."

"He was a Time Lord," Emrys explained as Seren got the ship on a course to Cardiff before hitting auto-pilot. "He went mad when he was young, claiming that the drums wouldn't stop. Seren says that there actually a beat of four repeating itself over and over in his mind, but I'm a bit skeptical. After all, if the Schism is going to tell you something, it's not going to be something stupid like a drum-beat."

Seren bit her lip, and Rose got the distinct impression that the girl knew exactly what the Master had heard, but wasn't keen on sharing. "He and the Doctor were friends once. Think the Doctor still thinks of him as a friend in some ways, even after the Master spent I don't know how many years trying to kill the Doctor… The only thing I can say in the Master's favor is that at least he didn't steal a museum piece."

"What?" Rose asked, but Seren was back at the helm, flicking on the cloaking device as she scanned Cardiff for a place to land that was both hidden and on the Rift.

"I'll have to explain later," Seren said. She suddenly frowned, yet Rose could tell that she was also surprised. "What the hell? Somebody's sending us a transmission! Rose, are there any alien-related organization in Cardiff that you know of?"

"Not in this universe," Rose replied honestly.

"Well, then let's see what these people have to say for themselves then," Seren said, flipping a switch to activate a communications link.

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If somebody really can't figure out who it is contacting the Kirligo crew, I'm going to smash my head against the nearest wall…