"Am I ever going to see you again?"
"You can't."
"But what are you gonna do?"
"Ahh, I've got the TARDIS, same old life, last of the Timelords."
"On your own?"
The Doctor nodded.
"I love-I love you…"
"Quite right. And I suppose if it is my last chance to say it. Rose Tyler-"
BEEP BEEP BEEP
Rose Tyler awoke with a start. She quickly switched off the alarm clock next to the bed. Her brain was flashing vivid memories of the Doctor through her mind, but she blocked them out. Looking in the mirror opposite the bed, she noticed she was sweating. Sighing, she slowly got out of bed and made her way downstairs.
"There you are!" Called Jackie Tyler from across the kitchen. "I was afraid you'd b late again. Don't want to go making bad impr-sweetheart! What happened?"
Jackie noticed the sweaty and distressed look Rose emitted while sitting down. Rose looked up from the table, but swiftly averted her eyes from Jackie's.
"Oh Rose. It's been over two years now, are you still having bad dreams?" Jackie stroked Rose's head lovingly with her hand.
"I know, I know." Replied Rose solemnly.
"Well, you'd better get a move on then. Don't want to be late then." Jackie turned away from Rose and began busying herself in the kitchen making breakfast.
"Mornin' all!" Pete Tyler stroke in the kitchen, clutching a newspaper in his hand.
"You still here Rose? Blimey you're cutting it fine. Don't wanna be late now." He made a grab for Jackie's coffee, but she slapped his hand playfully. He smirked at her and got up and made himself some more. Rose silently continued eating her breakfast.
Why can't I forget him? Why are my dreams constantly haunted by the memories for my lost Doctor?
"Get a move on now." Jackie pushed Rose into action, and she slowly made her way out.
"Morning Rose!" Called Mickey cheerfully from the other side of the room.
"Morning!" she called halfheartedly back.
Rose made her way over to her desk, and once settling herself in, she turned to face the assortment of people gathering around the sensors.
"What have we got?" she asked, falling into serious mode now.
"Well, nothing out of the ordinary…"
Ever since that fateful day on the beach of 'Bad Wolf Bay', Rose had been seeking out any sign or hint of the Doctor, or any alien for that matter. Her keen search had led her to Torchwood. Although reluctant to participate, her drive to find the Doctor became her motivation to join. Impressed by her understanding of alien cultures and species, she was given a role in recognizing and analyzing any alien species or technology that pass within the radius of Earth. She had found the job rather rewarding, having helped Torchwood understand a lot more about the universe. Either way, it helped to pay the bills.
Not so long after she'd joined up, Mickey came in her footsteps. His knowledge and involvement in eradication of the Cybermen helped to secure his spot on the team at Torchwood.
Their drive was protection; hers was for locating. It had occurred to her that there might be a Doctor in this universe, and surely, at some point in time, he would come to Earth, and she would be waiting. But the wait had taken over two years and still nothing other than the occasional case of parking infractions involving aliens mistaking Earth for the drive in, nothing serious had happened. She was still waiting for a sign that might never come.
"Hey Rose, check this out, can you make any sense of it?" Marcus called.
Marcus was an expert in computer programming and Karate. They often joked about the opposites of his life.
"Sure, what is it?" Rose walked over to his desk. Marcus often called her over when he had spotted some form of alien technology on the scanners. Usually it was just a bit of space debris.
"Take a look at that." Marcus pointed to a small dot blinking on the screen. It indicated that some form of alien technology was activated in an area not to far from Torchwood's location.
"Can you bring up the CCTV, see if we can get a good look at it?"
"Sure."
With a couple of button clicks away, Rose and Marcus were soon looking at camera footage of a park in Central London.
"Rotate it about; I can't see anything that even looks remotely alien."
"Doing it now."
The camera view started turning to look at the rest of the park. Apart from some trees and a couple of bushes, there was nothing out of the ordinary, until…
"Wait!"
Rose peered closer to the screen. A tall, blue shape stood in the distance. She backed away from the desk in shock.
"Rose? What is it?" Marcus asked curiously.
"I'm borrowing your car." And with that, she sped off out of the building, heading for a park in Central London.
TWO MONTHS EARLIER
How about the year 7000? That's always a winner for new adventures. Oh, come on, I'm discussing where to land with myself. That's getting desperate. Snap out of it! OK, let's go the year 7000!
The TARDIS engines took off at a healthy speed as the Doctor fiddled with the various controls and buttons on the console.
"OK!" he sighed, as the engines stopped.
"7000AD, let's see what awaits me. Hmm, should be starting to experiment with hyper fusion about now…"
The Doctor stepped out of the TARDIS into dazzling sunshine. Looking around he found himself standing in a park.
Ohh, the great outdoors.
He made his way alongside some bushes to come face to face with a huge metal wall.
"Hmm." He muttered. "That shouldn't be there."
The Doctor looked around himself, only to notice that the wall extended all the way around the park, and all the way up to join as a dome at the top.
"That's not good." Sighed the Doctor.
He began to walk faster around the wall. He fished out the sonic screwdriver and began looking for doors. It wasn't long before he found one. Opening the door, he let his eyes focus in the dark, and to his astonishment, he found himself face to face with an entire security force, which appeared to be having lunch.
"Hi guys!" He waved and smiled at them cheerfully.
The nearest guard dropped his sandwich in surprise. The rest looked at him oddly, with shocked expressions. The Doctor continued to smile until one of them picked up his gun.
"Take me to your leader!"
"He was inside the reality chamber? How, how could this happen? No one is allowed in there!"
"I know sir; he said he landed in there…"
"With what?"
"The strange blue Police box sir."
"Ok, fine; bring him in."
"Oi! The commander says bring in the prisoner."
The Doctor sighed. This was becoming a regular event. He let himself be taken into a small room, just off the main corridor, where the soldiers had been having their lunch. He entered the room, and was sat in a chair facing a stern looking man, who eyed him off suspiciously.
"Hello! I'm the –" started the Doctor brightly.
"Yes, I know who you are." The man bluntly interrupted.
"Well, doesn't that make a change." Muttered the Doctor.
"I know your name, nothing more, nothing less. By the end of our meeting tonight, I will know everything about who you are and how you got inside the reality chamber." The man continued to eye the Doctor suspiciously from behind his desk.
"I'm sorry, did you say reality chamber?' the Doctor asked with curiosity.
"Don't tell me you had no idea where you were when you breached this base?"
"Well, I suppose…yes."
"Uh huh. OK mister. You don't want me to know anything about you I get it. All I want to know is how you got into this base and who helped you get in. Got it?"
"Well…for starters I didn't know this was a 'base'. I just sort of…landed here."
"In your big blue box?"
"Yep, now if you don't mind, I'm going to head off now, so I'll be seeing you later."
The Doctor clapped his hands and went to stand up, but the big guard behind him pushed him roughly back into it. The man behind the desk stood up and looked at him.
"I'm afraid you won't be going anywhere soon."
The Doctor sighed.
"I was afraid you were going to say that."
"Tell me! How did you get inside the reality chamber?"
"In my big blue-"
"OK! OK! Stop it right there!"
The man who was attempting to interrogate the Doctor slammed his hand down on the desk.
"I've had enough of this 'big blue box' talk. If you won't tell me how you got in, then I'll ask you this. What is your 'big blue box' then?"
The Doctor smiled mischievously.
"Why don't you scan it then? Oh and tell me what you find out." His dark brown eyes sparkled, challenging the man to comply.
"Fine." He snapped.
"You there! Guard!" He shouted at the man next to the door.
"Yes sir?"
"Tell administration to scan the blue box and identify its origins. Now!"
The Doctor leaned back in his chair and grinned. The man stood behind the desk, with an expression of pure distaste.
"What do you mean you can't identify!" The man roared.
The poor messenger trembled beneath is towering figure.
"The scan revealed nothing sir. It's definitely alien, but doesn't give off any sort of trace that we have in our database. There's nothing like it in the known universe."
The man slammed the report down onto his desk, and put his hands in his hair. The Doctor continued to smile at his frustration.
"Soo…What did you find out?" The Doctor casually replied.
"This box does not exist according to the scans. So are you going to tell me who you really are?"
"Do you really want to know?" The Doctor's voice changed to a more serious tone.
"Yes." The man stubbornly replied.
The Doctor leaned back in his chair.
"Timelord." He replied.
The man laughed.
"Uh huh? Well if you're a Timelord, then I'm Elvis Presley."
"Nice to meet you Mr. Presley." The Doctor stood up and warmly shook the man's hand before being placed abruptly back down in his seat.
"You don't wanna talk? You don't have to talk. But what you will do is tell me who you are and how you got inside this facility. But, until then, if you are going to start making it up, then it's the cell for you. Take him away!"
The Doctor was dragged back outside the door, and down the corridor. He noticed the door to the reality chamber, the one in which he previously entered through, was under heavy guard. Passing that door, the guard in front opened another, through which the Doctor was placed. Looking around, the entire room was white, with a small white chair in one corner.
"Doesn't look like they expect people to stay here for long." He muttered under his breath.
"Ah well, that lock was a standard electrical volt loop, should be easy enough."
The Doctor fished out the sonic screwdriver and quickly began to work on the lock. He had decided that he did not want to stay here for much longer. As soon as it opened, he made his way down the corridor, hitting the emergency button as he passed it. The sprinklers began showering all those near enough to them. The Doctor continued to walk to the door into the reality chamber, where he hoped the TARDIS still was. Turning into the corner where the guards were, he promptly pulled out the psychic paper.
"Please let me through, I must inspect the chamber." The Doctor used the best important-like voice he could manage.
The guards looked closely at the paper, and moved to the side.
Thank goodness this is a new set of guards then the last ones I met.
Once inside, the Doctor ran to the TARDIS, quickly unlocking it and racing inside. Suddenly, a large voice rang through the reality chamber.
"Don't try to escape. If you do, we will swap the realities, even with you inside."
"Too late." Muttered the Doctor, and he pushed the engines into fast mode. Suddenly, a huge explosion erupted inside the TARDIS console.
"What the…" The Doctor, having been thrown backwards by the explosion grabbed the nearest bit of the console he could, and began pressing and pulling as many levers and buttons he could find.
"No, no, no, no!" He cried, and began working even faster.
Suddenly, another burst of energy shot out of the console, sending the TARDIS far further away then the Doctor had ever planned to go. The Doctor struggled to hold on, as the TARDIS swung this way and that. Then, nothing. The rocking and explosions stopped as suddenly as they had begun. Pulling himself up, the Doctor stole a look at the monitor. Confused, he turned to the door.
That's odd, it's all very jumbled about.
He stood up straight, and grabbed his coat. Walking to the door, he opened it to find a familiar sight on his eyes. It was the reality chamber garden. But something was different. The Doctor looked around himself, and to his surprise, the metal walls were gone. Closing the door behind him, he strode out, only to come face to face with what appeared to be Central London. Looking to the sky, he noticed there were zeppelins.
Wait a minute…I've been here before…