The Doctor battled his way through the raging torrents as clung on tight to her lifeless body.

'Come on Rose.' he shouted. 'Hold on, I've got you.'

The tsunami had struck just off the coast of Devon, a stray meteorite impacting with the ocean, combined with the torrential persistence of precipitation from the atmospheric disturbance, whole villages had been swept away. Fortunately the evacuation had gotten everyone out. Everyone that was except for the Doctor and Rose. In the meteorite there was a being, a creature said to have unlimited power over space, matter and time. The legends of this dangerous creature had existed for many years though only the Doctor had reflected since he had been on Pete's World. Whatever this thing was it meant bad news for Earth and he knew he had to stop it but now as he desperately tried to wake Rose from the edge of death he regretted his impatience. He had leapt right in. If he had just waited there would still be time and Rose wouldn't be fighting for her life.

Rose. Wake up, I need you.' he whispered mournfully in her ear. Like a miracle the water dislodged itself from her throat as she coughed and spluttered back to life. Upon waking Rose felt the bone chilling water soaking through her clothes which left her shivering. The Doctor responded by hugging her tightly, pulling her in trying to keep her warm within his embrace. A tear of relief slid silently down his face merging with the dirty water that surrounded them.

'I'm sorry, I'm so sorry Rose, you were right, we should have waited. I nearly lost you.' When she looked up he knew he was forgiven but that didn't stop the Doctor from beating himself up and Rose knew it. He planted a kiss on her forehead and she gave him a weak but sincere smile wrapping her arms around him. She didn't want him blaming himself. Apart from the cold Rose felt surprisingly well. The water had left a horrible taste in her mouth but that was it.

'You can put me down now.' she smiled. 'I feel fine.' The Doctor was reluctant but eventually put her down. Though Rose noticed that he stayed a lot closer to her now. 'Did you find it?' she asked trying to distract him so that he didn't worry. The Doctor grinned at her.

'Oh yes! Washed up on the beach, just like I said it would. That's what comes from studying interstellar debris, it's interaction with planetary surfaces is easy to predict.' Rose grinned back at him, she swore he was making half of these things up but she didn't care.

'What are we waiting for then?' she asked rhetorically.

'Al-lonsy!' the Doctor exclaimed as they set off running down the beach to the asteroid, hand in hand. It didn't take them long, they were both used to running, they had been running for so long they often found it harder to sit still, especially the Doctor. Approaching the meteorite Rose realized it was much smaller than she had been expecting.

'It's hard to believe something so small could do so much damage.' Rose said looking over to the village and to the debris strewn beach. They walked the last few meters approaching with caution just in case.

'Looks can be deceiving.' The Doctor said softly a flash of sadness briefly showing in his chocolate brown eyes.

'You miss her don't you.' Rose said coming closer to comfort him. She had known the TARDIS and the Doctor were connected and she could sense the effect it's absence was having on him. The Doctor missed the TARDIS tremendously after such a long time being with her he missed her presence. When they had left, the Doctor, Donna and the TARDIS, he had left a piece of her with him to help her to grow but it would be a couple of years before she'd be formed after that she would back to her usual self gradually building her interior as it was necessary. Being half human he hadn't expected the separation to have as much of an effect on him as it did but Rose had helped him through. As she grew the connection he felt gradually began to form once again but he looked forward to the day when they could fly together once more. He turned to Rose who reached out a hand for him. The Doctor smiled taking it but not before pulling his screwdriver out from his jacket pocket and pointing it towards the lump of black, brown rock that scarred the broken landscape. He laughed loudly.

'Told you, thats no meteorite!' he grinned at Rose.

'So this is it? What's inside then?' Rose asked. The Doctor raised an eyebrow still grinning.

'Do you want to find out?' He asked.

'Of course.' she replied immediately returning his grin. The Doctor's face changed to an expression of admiration as she asked. 'How do we get in?'

From the outside the large meteorite looked like any other but the scans had revealed a complex and incredibly dense material which was solid and yet at the same not quite there. The Doctor pulled out his brainy specs putting them on to inspect the shell of the false meteorite. After a long time looking at the rock, making scans the Doctor stood up and sighed.

'I don't have a clue.' he admitted. He looked around for a second before picking up a long stick. Rose laughed. 'Far as I can tell it's not dangerous.'

'You're going to poke it with a stick?' Rose asked she couldn't tell if she was serious or not.

'Oh yes!' he said plunging the stick into the meteorite's uncertain surface as they braced themselves for whatever would happen next...