Chapter 1

Rose Tyler had forgotten the meaning of the phrase a normal day at the office. In fact, she couldn't remember if she even knew what a normal day at the office was. Sure, every day in the shop had been about as boring as watching paint dry; nowadays she found herself unable to listen to the beeping of tills without becoming skittish. But a normal day at the office? No.

Almost as soon as she'd applied for the job at Torchwood, she'd been accepted. It wasn't just because of Pete Tyler's position as the head of Torchwood- or so she liked to think. No, Rose was independent. She could get another job in the space of time it took to click her fingers. She'd only have to take a few A Levels first.

She was immediately given an office on the ground floor. The ground floor was noisy, what with all of the aliens and personnel coming in and out of the building. Still, most employees weren't assigned an office at all when they first started out. Rose considered herself lucky.

For the first few days, she'd had several tons of paperwork thrown at her- at least, that's what it felt like. She'd proofread all of them and edited them skilfully, something she had quite a talent for, she'd found. After about a week, things got more exciting.

She had been assigned to a man called Kenny, and pretty much from the word go everything had been hectic. Kenny was funny, easy to talk to, energetic and absolutely gorgeous . Rose had often found it very difficult not to stare, but she'd managed to hold it in after working with him for a while. Kenny was just Kenny, and a friend was just a friend, and, as the Doctor had told her once- four leafed clovers were just vegetation. She wasn't lucky to have met Kenny, because she wasn't meant for Kenny. Not like she was meant for the Doctor.

They'd gone on several whirlwind assignments together- everything from catching Weevils to more exciting expeditions, such as chasing a giant lizard that was terrorising the city of London. That had been one of their most interesting assignments so far, Rose had decided. Everything else had been standard.

Just like this. Chin rested in one of her hands, Rose fiddled with the device in her hand nonchalantly, awaiting Kenny's return. He had hared off in search of the Weevil that they'd been tracking since about ten o' clock, and Rose hadn't seen him for a good twenty minutes.

She shivered and slipped the device into the pocket of her bomber jacket, zipping it up and hugging herself to try and keep warm. If he hadn't contacted her in five minutes, she'd try and contact him- and if he didn't reply… she was calling for reinforcements. Weevils could be nasty- there was no denying that.

Suddenly, a high-pitched beeping sound came from the device that she had just put away. Fishing it out again, Rose inspected it and raised her eyebrows at the red blip on it, which seemed to be moving at a leisurely stroll. She lifted her wrist comm to her mouth. "Kenny? The Weevil's come back into range of my tracker. Are you on it?" Silence. "Kenny?"

Rose wet her lips with her tongue, heaving a sigh and tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear. "Kenny, I'm going to go after it. I'll see you soon if you're any good at tracking."

Switching off her wrist comm, Rose rechecked the tracking device and set off in the direction of the blip. This was always Rose's approach to things- if she walks very slowly, then the Weevil might not think that she's a threat and will therefore let down its guard. Her theory hadn't failed her yet, and she hoped it never would.

It was after about ten minutes of wandering that Rose finally came upon the red dot, which had become stationary during the time she had spent getting to the location. She muted the sound on the device and put it into her pocket.

She was in an alleyway. Not just an alleyway, though- a completely deserted alleyway. There was a silver dustbin lurking to her left and two big recycling boxes at the end of it. Tentatively, Rose reached for her Weevil spray.

"I know you're here!" she said, heading past the dustbin (which was too small to house a Weevil) and down towards the recycling boxes. "There's no point hiding. I'll find you."

An eerie silence greeted her words, and she stepped forward again, moving her body defensively and raising the Weevil spray to shoulder level. "Just come out, yeah? I'm not going to hurt you."

A hand on her shoulder made her spin round. She frantically sprayed the bottle- just once, in case it was Kenny. He was used to her ways and didn't particularly mind getting the liquid in his eye from time to time if it made Rose feel more secure. It was only really damaging to Weevils, anyway.

"Argh! That smarts."

The figure was bent double, clutching his face, quite clearly in pain. He wasn't Kenny, but he wasn't a Weevil either. "Oh, God!" Rose exclaimed, hastily tucking the spray away for a moment, forgetting all about the Weevil that she was supposed to be searching for. "I'm sorry. Are you all right?"

"Fine, yeah. Just grand! Ouch. What is that stuff?"

That voice. His voice. "It's… it's Weevil spray. I… are you sure you're all right?"

"I'm all right," the man reassured her, standing up properly and removing his hand from his face. "What are you doing here?"

Rose's heart twittered. Rose's stomach twittered. In fact, her whole body twittered and she jarred, clenching her teeth. "Um, I was hunting a… there was this… um…" She could feel herself going red and, incredibly flustered, she turned around in embarrassment. She pulled out the tracking device. Its screen was bright red. She was right next to the alien life form that she had been tracking. Great.

"Weevil?" the man asked, with a smile as she turned back. Rose nodded. "What's your name?"

"Rose. Rose Tyler." No recognition flittered across his face, and Rose's heart sank. She took a deep breath and asked softly, "Yours?"

"I'm the Doctor." Before she had a chance to respond, he went on, "This Weevil you're talking about. Is it brown? Quite tall? Really sharp teeth?" Rose nodded, her mouth dry. "Yes; I've been searching for it, too. They keep escaping from the rift-" He hesitated.

"I know what the rift is," Rose said quietly.

A million possibilities were running through her mind as to who this Doctor could be. Since his life was so dangerous, it could always be the same one, with his memory erased. Or… the name Ricky suddenly sprang to mind, and she swallowed. This Doctor could be this universe's version of the Doctor. The thought sent her mind spinning out of control.

She'd tried hard to put a lid on her feelings for the Doctor, and it had worked perfectly after a few months of living in this universe. She thought she had been in love with so many people, but Rose only realised what love was after meeting the Doctor. This was a little too much for her to take, though.

"Are you all right?" this Doctor asked, his chocolate brown eyes flooding with concern. She smiled weakly. She had missed that look from him. She had seen it so many times, but it still wasn't enough.

"I'm fine, fine-"

"Rose!"

Rose turned to see Kenny running up behind her, his gun out. He was aiming it around the three of them, hastily explaining, "There's a Weevil here, Rose. Get out your spray. What are you doing standing around like that?"

Rose shifted her glance from Kenny to this Doctor, biting her lip warily. This was going to be hard to explain, she just knew it. "Kenny- there's no Weevil here. I've checked, don't worry."

Kenny looked confused, but put his gun away almost immediately. He trusted Rose greatly; that, she could see in his grey eyes. "But the tracker-"

"-is detecting an alien life form, I know." Rose looked at this Doctor pointedly, who squirmed a little under her gaze. Kenny noticed.

"Him? You?" he said, addressing this Doctor with a fiery glare. Rose could see where this was going, but she was too curious to stop it. "What kind of alien are you?"

This Doctor responded, "I'm a Time Lord."

At the same time, Rose said, "He's a Time Lord." They both looked at each other, this Doctor's expression one of puzzlement. Rose cleared her throat and broke eye contact.

"A Time Lord," Kenny repeated monotonously, his eyes surveying this Doctor warily.

"That's right- a Time Lord. Hooray!" this Doctor said, although his voice betrayed deeper feeling. Rose immediately thought: Time War.

Kenny gave Rose a confused look, which she returned, attempting not to give too much about the situation away. She just hoped that both of them forgot how she knew what this Doctor's species had been. "I'm going to have to ask you to come with us, Mr…?"

"Doctor."

"Dr…"

"No, just the Doctor."

Not being able to correct people for him frustrated Rose. It was a habit that she'd got into whilst travelling with the Doctor, and having to restrain herself from speaking for this Doctor made her more unhappy than she believed was healthy.

"So if you'll step this way," Kenny continued.

This Doctor stepped backwards, and Rose looked around for the familiar police box which, no doubt, he was about to step into and disappear off with. She couldn't see it. Maybe if she'd been able to find it in the alleyway with her vision, she wouldn't have done what she did next- but who knew?

She launched herself forward, catching his wrist and holding it tightly. He looked down at her, his expression a frown. Electricity- at least that was what it felt like- crackled through Rose. Just touching him sparked such a fierce intensity that she wanted to pull him close and take him where they were both standing- Kenny or no Kenny. She gasped and caught herself, managing to prevent herself from pulling his head towards hers.

"Please," she begged. "Please come with us." She could feel tears welling up in her eyes but she blinked them away angrily before letting go of his wrist. She knew that she had piqued his curiosity- and whenever her Doctor's curiosity had been piqued, he would stop at nothing to discover things. This Doctor was clearly the same.

"Okay," he said mildly, his expression softening. She turned away and nodded to Kenny, who spread his arm and indicated for this Doctor to step out of the alleyway. This Doctor complied, Kenny and Rose following in his wake.