The area was silent as Rose and Jake strapped on their equipment. No one made eye contact, and everyone avoided looking at the alley wall. Outside the barricade, the sounds of London buzzed, but the temporary wall blocked them from view. Torchwood was something few people needed to know about; it was best kept secret.

Rose fastened the utility belt high around her waist, earning a nervous glance from Jake. Her hand unconsciously moved to her abdomen, but she corrected that immediately. Everything would be all right. The med team said this should be fine, not that she would have listened to them anyways. She had to do this. There was no time to waste with these worries now.

"You're sure about this? I can find someone else to go, and we'll bring him back!" Jake attempted to persuade her one last time. She sighed and checked her gun.

"Jake, we've been through this a million times. He's my husband; I have to go! Besides, I have more experience than anyone else, not to mention the connections that could come in handy," she ended the argument. Somewhere in the crowd, someone signaled thirty seconds and everyone formed an arc behind the two soldiers. The crack began to glow brighter and grow wider. As the countdown approached, Rose and Jake charged forward into the light.

xxx

The Doctor burst out of the TARDIS with Amy and Rory hot on his heels. Amy paused as the world came into view. It was pretty, but not what she expected. They were on a grassy cliff overlooking a bay that separated them from the glistening city.

"Welcome Ponds to New Earth and the fifteenth New York ever built!" the Doctor exclaimed, his arms outstretched towards the view. Amy giggled as Rory muttered 'Williams' under his breath. She kissed his temple, then locked her arm around his to pull him even with Doctor.

"This is great, but you promised me Rio! Sorry, but Ne Earth doesn't scream 'Happy Honeymoon!' to me," she teased him.

"Cities shouldn't scream," the Doctor mumbled as he fiddled with his screwdriver. Amy noticed Rory's worried look and grew puzzled at its meaning.

"Why did you bring us here?" Rory asked. The Doctor paused and looked at him.

"Because I like it here, and thought you would like it. Not as hot as Rio. Perfectly safe city... besides the hospital... and the motorway..." he trailed off.

"You were looking at the sonic screwdriver. You're looking for something," Rory pressed. "What were you scanning for?" The Doctor gave him the 'I'm innocent look' as he shoved the screwdriver deep into his jacket pocket.

"Nothing, nothing! Now why are we standing around? We have all of New Earth to see! There's the Museum of Everything, hardly complete, and virtual foosball, oh! and all the little shops. Have I told you how much I love little shops? But this isn't any old Earth shop. this is New Earth, with new trade, and therefore-"

"New shops!" Amy jumped in, getting caught up in the moment.

"Exactly!" He grabbed Amy's hand to pull her along. She laughed excitedly and grabbed Rory to keep him along. His worry faded and was replaced with a genuine smile. After all, it was the Doctor. No use worrying.

The bazaar was truly fascinating. Amy enjoyed guessing what the trinkets at each stand were. Rory was persuaded into buying the ugliest rug in the world, which the Doctor tried to barter off for a red fez. He did eventually get a purple dotted bow tie for it. Amy eventually found her way to a stand selling some kind of little toy from a planet she could never hope to pronounce. They looked like mini pink bear parrots that danced.

"Rory! Look at these. Aren't they cute?" He gave a look indicating that she was clearly insane.

"Cute? They're rather hideous," he responded. This earned him an offended growl from the alien behind the counter. He nervously looked around to avoid contact and realized something. "Where's the Doctor?"

"Probably looking for another fez vendor," Amy joked as she scanned the crowd. "Doctor?" she called out. Rory followed suit. Amy suddenly felt a twinge of fear that she'd been abandoned.

"Ponds!" The Doctor cried as he briskly walked through a cross street. The sonic screwdriver was held firmly in front of him and his eyes were glued to it. Amy and Rory glanced at each other before running after him. They quickly left the main streets into a relatively run down neighborhood. The Doctor disappeared around another corner. Amy, panting heavily, took a deep breath and sped up to catch up only to run square into the Doctor's back.

"Oops! Sorry, I-" she stopped dead and stopped her efforts to pick herself up. Fear gripped her temporarily, but realization finally set in. "That's not the crack in my wall," she sighed. It was only a small comfort though. While it was not an evil jester grin crack, but a jagged zigzag, they all knew any crack was bad.

"I thought you fixed those," Rory said hurriedly. "You flew into the sun and fixed it!"

"I did, but this isn't the same crack as Amy pointed out. It's origins are quite... abnormal," the Doctor mumbled as he scanned the crack. Suddenly, the light grew brighter and the crack began to widen. "Back!" he cried and forced them around the corner. Amy, now on her hands and knees, watched as two figures flew out of the light. As soon as they landed in a mess on the ground, the crack returned to a thin line of light.

a/n: I should probably just publish this. It's what I've been working on for the last couple weeks in dull lectures. Please tell me what you think!

Disclaimer for entire story: I don't own Doctor Who. If I did, I wouldn't be writing fanfiction.