Quick note on series continuity:

The return of familiar faces in the comments has sparked a question in my mind. Many of you who comment regularly didn't comment on The Most Wonderful Time of the Year or Taking Time. You aren't obligated to comment, of course, but I wondered if perhaps you bypassed the stories thinking they were filler.

They are actually integral to the series timeline. Forever and Never Apart picks up right where Taking Time left off, just over a year after the end of Time is Still A-Flying. You don't need to read them if you'd rather not, but things will happen that reference back to those two stories, and you're missing a large chunk of character development for both the Doctor and Rose if you haven't read them.

If you'd rather just hit the high points, I've posted recaps of all four of the major pieces in this series on my Tumblr—chocolatequeennk.

Chapter Two: The Fat Just Walks Away

The Doctor smirked the next morning as he set course for the planet Rose had chosen. He wouldn't tell her where they were going, but obviously something about her random selection of a star system amused him. "You picked your planet," he insisted. "Now you can wait until we land to learn anything about it."

Rose sighed and sank back into the jump seat. "You just want me to be completely unprepared for how gorgeous it is, I bet. You want that look of wonder."

That got an actual shout of laughter from him. "You know me so well, love, but this time I'm afraid you're dead wrong."

The TARDIS landed before Rose could resort to begging. The Doctor leaned back against the railing and gestured to the door. "After you, Rose."

Rose ran through the doors and stopped dead in her tracks three feet from the TARDIS. She turned in a slow circle, taking in the river just behind them, spanned by a green bridge, and the palace and abbey on her right. Big Ben chimed the hour, and she couldn't help it—she threw her head back and laughed.

"Earth?" she gasped. "Of all the planets in the galaxy, I chose Earth?"

The Doctor's eyes sparkled down at her. "Yes, you did."

A tingle of awareness nudged at Rose, and her laughter quickly died. "Maybe there's a reason," she mumbled. "Do you feel that, Doctor? The feeling that there's something wrong going on?"

His eyes narrowed and he scanned their surroundings quickly. "Something just out of reach," he agreed. "Maybe this wasn't a completely random selection—or maybe the TARDIS nudged the date to a point in Earth's history that needs our help."

Rose held out her hand. "Shall we, Doctor?"

He grinned and accepted her hand. "Allons-y, Rose Tyler."

It didn't take long to find the reason the TARDIS had brought them to London in January of 2009. A snippet of overheard conversation as they walked through St. James' Park, an ad plastered to a pub wall, and finally, a brief news piece on the telly all pointed the way.

"So," Rose said as they made supper together that evening. "Adipose Industries?"

The Doctor nodded. "A miracle diet pill? In my experience, if something seems too good to be true—"

"It's probably aliens," Rose finished with a cheeky smile.

After they ate, they did a little digging into the company itself, looking for their way in. The Doctor tapped an announcement on the company's homepage. "Press briefing tomorrow, brilliant! We can sneak in the back door before it starts and watch from behind the scenes—stay out of sight."

Rose shook her head and pointed at another pane. "One million happy customers in London alone," she read. "I want to learn more about the people buying into this plan."

She looked up at the Doctor. "I suppose… we do have two pieces of psychic paper. We could do both? You could do your clandestine investigation while I pose as a temp and get access to their client information?"

It was a good plan. It was also an excellent way to test if they were really ready to travel again. It wouldn't work if the Doctor's fear of losing her made him unwilling to split up when the situation called for it.

But a smile was already stretching across his face. "Even better," he agreed. "A two-pronged attack. Killing one bird with two stones."

"I think you've got that last one backwards," Rose said drily.

"Eh, I'd rather not kill birds anyway." He nudged her shoulder. "But I'd love to solve the mystery of Adipose Industries with you."

oOoOoOoOo

The Doctor leaned against the wardrobe, watching Rose get ready. Instead of her preferred practical outfits of jeans or loose trousers and shirts, she wore a pair of dressy charcoal grey trousers and a white button-down shirt. Her hair was twisted up in a sleek knot, held in place by at least twenty pins that he only knew were there because he'd watched her push them in.

She pulled on her blazer and made sure the collar sat right, then picked up the chain with her TARDIS key. The eyes of the wolf charm glinted back at him in the mirror as she latched it securely behind her neck, then tucked the key and charm under her shirt.

Finally, she grabbed a clutch purse and slid her mobile and psychic paper into it, then turned to face him. "How do I look?"

"Beautiful."

Rose rolled her eyes. "I mean, do I look like I'm ready to work in an office?"

For the first time, the Doctor felt a glimmer of insecurity from her. He narrowed his eyes, but it only took a second to suss out the reason. She'd never done office work before, and she was afraid she'd mess up.

Rose looked down at her trousers, picking non-existent lint off her leg. The Doctor stepped closer and pressed his hand to her cheek and waited for her to look at him. "You'll be brilliant, Rose," he promised her. "I have complete faith in your abilities."

She smiled and turned her head to kiss his palm. "Thank you, Doctor."

oOoOoOoOo

The Doctor and Rose walked hand-in-hand until they were just one street away from the modern glass building housing Adipose Industries. "Meet you back at the TARDIS at 6:00?" he confirmed. "We can go get chips for dinner."

Rose grinned up at him, her eyes twinkling. "You know the way to my heart," she teased.

He leaned down to kiss her. I certainly hope so, he told her as his lips caressed hers for just a moment. I love you… Rose Lewis, he said, using the pseudonym she'd settled on.

Rose pulled back from the kiss and tugged on the striped tie she'd bought him in 1969. Love you too, John Smith. And you be careful.

Oh, I'm always careful. He walked backwards a few steps without looking away from Rose. When she groaned and shook her head, he winked and spun away from her.

Instead of approaching the building from the front, he cut down a side street and went to the back door, as planned. It was child's play to break in through the fire exit with the sonic screwdriver, and he found himself in a utility corridor that reminded him of the tunnels H. C. Clements had had running under the Thames—exposed ductwork and stark lighting.

A security guard approached him, and the Doctor had the psychic paper out before the man could even ask what he was doing down here. "John Smith, Health and Safety," he said. The guard nodded, and he slid the leather wallet back into his pocket.

Calling himself John Smith sounded strange after three years of always giving Tyler as his last name. But Rose was using a false name for the first time, and he didn't want to draw attention to who she really was by using Tyler.

When he reached the sound booth at the back of the lecture hall, the young man manning the station tried to block his entrance. The Doctor held up the psychic paper. "Health and Safety." The young man raised an eyebrow, and the Doctor added, "Film department," before sliding in through the door.

On the stage below them, a slim, blonde woman in a black dress and heels was smirking at a crowd of reporters over the rim of her glasses. "Adipose Industries, the twenty-first century way to lose weight. No exercise, no diet, no pain. Just lifelong freedom from fat. The Holy Grail of the modern age. And here it is." She held up a small, red-and-white capsule. "You just take one capsule. One capsule, once a day for three weeks, and the fat, as they say…"

She gestured to the screen behind her, and the company slogan appeared. "The fat just walks away," a male voice said in a voiceover.

One reporter in the front row waved her hand. "Excuse me, Miss Foster. If I could? I'm Penny Carter, science correspondent for The Observer. There are a thousand diet pills on the market, a thousand con men stealing people's money. How do we know the fat isn't going straight into your bank account?"

Oh, very good, Penny, the Doctor thought. Very good indeed.

Miss Foster's mouth had twisted into a grimace while Penny asked her question, and now she shook her head, a disappointed frown on her face. "Oh, Penny, if cynicism burnt up calories, we'd all be as thin as rakes. But if you want the science, I can oblige."

She took her glasses off and pointed at the screen again, and an informative reel began, with the same voice doing the voiceover. "Adipose Industries." The company logo transitioned to a diagram of an overweight human body, putting a pill into its mouth. "The Adipose capsule is composed of a synthesised mobilising lipase, bound to a large protein molecule."

What kind of mobilising lipase now? The Doctor put his glasses on and frowned at the screen. The explanation sounded very scientific and impressive, but to someone who understood science, it was off by just enough to sound fake.

"The mobilising lipase breaks up the triglycerides stored in the adipose cells, which then enter the body's waste system, leading to the spontaneous excretion of fat."

The Doctor shook his head. There it was again—most scientists would not say adipose cells. The standard nomenclature was fat cells that made up adipose tissue.

The film ended, and Miss Foster gestured at the audience with her glasses. "One hundred percent legal, one hundred percent effective."

"But, can I just ask," Penny pressed, "how many people have taken the pills to date?"

Miss Foster sighed and put her narrow framed glasses back on. "We've already got one million customers within the Greater London area alone, but from next week, we start rolling out nationwide. The future starts here. And Britain will be thin."

oOoOoOoOo

Rose stared up at the skyscraper and swallowed hard, then straightened her blazer and marched in through the revolving door. The phone rang as she entered the airy atrium, and she waited for the receptionist to finish her call before holding out the psychic paper.

"Rose Lewis. Tardis Temp Agency sent me over, said you need someone to work as a sort of gopher for the day?"

The woman looked at the paper, then smiled at Rose. "Not down here, but I bet they do upstairs where the phone banks are. Miss Foster wants them to sell more, so the fewer clerical tasks they have to do, the better."

She pushed back from her desk and put up a "be right back" sign. "I'll take you up to human resources so we can get your paperwork started."

It took nearly an hour for Rose to fill out the paperwork with her fake information, get a quick tour of where the break room and toilets were, and finally be deposited by the phone banks with an Indian woman named Clare.

"Thank God," the young woman muttered when the human resources person explained what she was there to do. "I don't have time to file my paperwork and keep up with sales. Here, I'll show you what to do."

She led Rose around the outskirts of the network of cubicles to a small, windowless room filled with filing cabinets. A desk on one side of the room was loaded with files waiting to be put away, nearly burying a computer.

Clare grabbed a file off the top. "All of these are for former customers," she explained. "They go in the drawers directly behind you, filed by customer number, which you'll find here." She tapped the top left corner of the information sheet. "You'll have to look through each file to make sure the agent included their outtake form before dropping the folder in here—they're supposed to, but not everyone does."

"What do I do if it's missing?" Rose asked.

"Print it out." Clare jiggled the mouse, and the computer woke up. "Just type in the customer number here, and all the forms on them will pop up. Select the outtake form"—she demonstrated as she talked—"and print."

A second later, they heard a printer start on the other side of the wall, and Rose stuck her head out the door and spotted the laser printer by a large ficus. "That sounds simple enough," she agreed.

A stack of boxes along the wall caught her attention as Clare was leaving. "What's in those?" she asked.

Clare glanced over. "Oh, those are the pendants we give out to every new customer," she said. "Now… if you have questions, you can come find me, but I've really got to go."

"Yeah, right. Sorry." Clare disappeared and Rose set to work.

It was already stuffy in the room, so Rose unbuttoned her blazer and draped it over the back of her chair before sitting down. She spent a few minutes filing, just so she'd have progress to show Clare if she came back, then she started digging deeper into the client files.

She'd just found the option to print the entire client list when she heard the Doctor's voice from the other side of the door. "John Smith, Health and Safety," he explained, and she pictured him, flashing the psychic paper at whoever had stopped him.

The doorknob turned, and Rose swivelled her chair so she was facing the door. He stopped for a moment when he caught sight of her, then a slow smile spread across his face. "Hello, Miss Lewis," he said smoothly as he stepped inside and closed the door behind him. "I'm John Smith with—"

"Health and Safety, I heard," Rose interrupted.

He arched an eyebrow. "That's right. I need some information, and I hope you'll be able to help me."

Rose leaned back in her chair and folded her hands demurely in her lap. "Well, Mr. Smith, I was warned you were coming, so I took it upon myself to search for something that might help you. I could print you a complete client list, if you would like."

The Doctor pressed his tongue to the back of his teeth and pretended to consider. "Yes…" he said, dragging out the sibilant sound. "I think a client list would probably give me the information I need."

Despite his feigned nonchalance, this was obviously exactly the kind of information he'd hoped she'd find. A thrill of pride went through Rose as she turned to the computer and hit the print button. "It'll print out just on the other side of the wall here."

He opened the door and stuck his head out. "Right here by the plant?"

"Yeah, that's it."

He ducked back into the room suddenly, and a woman's strident tones filled the cubicle area before Rose could ask him what was wrong. "Excuse me, everyone, if I could have your attention."

They heard shuffling sounds of chairs being pushed back and people standing up, then she continued. "On average, you're each selling forty Adipose packs per day. It's not enough. I want one hundred sales per person per day. And if not, you'll be replaced. Because if anyone's good in trimming the fat, it's me. Now. Back to it."

"Blimey," Rose muttered. "She's not exactly a people person, is she?"

"Not really." He opened the door a crack and peeked out, then smiled at Rose. "But she's gone now, so I'll grab that list and—"

The Doctor's voice trailed off when Rose slid in between him and the door, latching it again. "I'm stuck here all day," she said, taking the Doctor's tie and using it to pull him closer, "but maybe later…" She looked up at him through her eyelashes and hid a smile when she saw his Adam's apple bob.

"What about later?" he asked, his voice husky.

Rose put her hands on his chest and slid them up until she'd linked them behind his neck. "Well…" she whispered against his lips. The Doctor's hands settled on her hips, pulling her closer. "You be health; I'll be safety?"

She felt his chuckle reverberate through her when she pressed her lips to his. He took a half step forward, and she found herself with her back to the door and the Doctor's hands settling on her bum.

But after a moment, Rose pushed against his chest and shook her head when he took a step back. "I said later, Mr. Smith," she reprimanded, pleased by how even she managed to keep her voice.

The Doctor blinked, then dropped his hands to his sides. "That you did, Miss Lewis. I apologise. I hope you'll consider that my enthusiastic agreement with your plans, however."

Rose pivoted so she was back by the desk, her hands clasped primly in front of her. "Excellent, Mr. Smith. I get a lunch break in twenty minutes. Meet me on the corner out front."

The Doctor waved, then left the room. Rose took a deep breath as soon as she was alone—staying in character had been both harder and easier than she'd expected.

She'd barely sat down when the door opened, and the Doctor stuck his head into the room. "Ah… me again," he said, tugging on his ear.

Rose arched an eyebrow and waited to hear why he was back.

"Could you print it again? Somehow, it didn't come out."

"That's weird," she muttered as she returned to the list on the computer. "Close the door, love," she told him. "This will take just a minute."

She felt his curiosity as he scanned the room. "What are these?" he asked, walking over to the boxes she'd noticed earlier.

"Oh, Clare says they give one of those to every new customer."

The Doctor grabbed a box and pulled the pendant out. "I think I need to take one of these with me," he said as it swung in front of him. "Just in case…"

Rose nodded absently and made a mental note to grab one for herself before leaving. If he needed to take one apart to examine it, they'd still have one intact.

"There," she said when they heard the printer start. "You'd better get out there before it disappears again."

"Thank you, Rose."

Rose smiled up at him, and he bent down to kiss her quickly.

"I'll see you for lunch."

When he was gone—for real, this time—Rose sighed and returned to her filing. Fifteen minutes left…

oOoOoOoOo

"So, you're not going back to work, I take it?" the Doctor commented a few hours later as his fingers idly traced patterns on Rose's bare back.

She sat up and shrugged. "Not much point. We've got the customer list and the pendants. I'm not going to learn much more about the company by poking around the files. Plus, that room was hot."

"Fair enough." He reached for his jacket and dug into the pocket for the pendant. "I'd like to take a closer look at this. I think I have a magnifying glass in the console room."

Rose sighed and slid out of bed. "I guess that means it's time to get dressed." She pulled on jeans and a t-shirt while the Doctor put his suit back on.

In the console room, she pulled the customer list out of the Doctor's coat pocket while he rummaged around in the drawers beneath the console for a magnifying glass. "I'll go over this while you see if there's anything funny about the pendant."

A distracted hum was her only answer, and Rose shook her head fondly at him as she settled onto the jump seat to study the list. Once her Doctor became engrossed in an experiment, it could take a force of nature to pull him away from it.

An hour later, she hadn't discovered any patterns in the customers. She was about ready to see if she could get the Doctor's attention when he rocked back on his heels and put the magnifying glass in his pocket.

"Oh, fascinating." He held the pendant up. "Seems to be a bio-flip digital stitch, specifically for collecting and monitoring biodata."

"You mean that thing can keep track of a person's heart rate and stuff?" Rose asked.

"Yep. And it's coded to sync with one person, and one person only. Plus…" He frowned at it. "I think there's a secondary signal piggybacking on the primary signal. So while the pendant is sending information back to Adipose Industries about how the customer is doing, it's also receiving instructions from the main computer."

Rose sat up straight. "But if it's linked to the person's biodata…"

The Doctor nodded grimly. "This little pendant gives Adipose Industries the ability to kill any of their customers, without warning."

The printed list Rose held in her lap suddenly seemed twice as heavy, now that she knew every name on it was a potential victim. "So, what now?" she asked.

The Doctor dropped the pendant into his pocket and leaned against the console. "Well, first we're going to get chips, because I think we're both ready for supper. And then"—He nodded at the list Rose held—"we'll pick a name and go talk to one of the Adipose customers. I'd like a little more information before taking Miss Foster on directly."

Rose took the top sheet and handed it to the Doctor. "Pick out a name. I'm going to put my office clothes on again, so I look like I'm working."

oOoOoOoOo

Two hours later, the Doctor and Rose turned down a walk that led to a nice brick house. The front door was set with two panels of frosted glass, decorated with red stained glass roses.

"Ready?" the Doctor asked Rose as he reached for the knocker. She nodded, and he gave two sharp raps.

A moment later, a tall, slim man with brown curly hair opened the door and looked from the Doctor to Rose with a curious frown on his face.

"Mr. Roger Davey? I'm the Doctor, and this is Rose Tyler. We're calling on behalf of Adipose Industries," the Doctor explained as he flashed the psychic paper. "Just need to ask you a few questions."

Roger's eyes widened in recognition and he stepped back to allow them to enter the house. "Can I get you a cup of tea?" he asked as he led them to a sparsely furnished living room.

"If it's not a bother," Rose said immediately, cutting off the Doctor's refusal. Roger nodded, and Rose continued. "Milk for me, and three sugars and a splash of milk for my partner." He disappeared into the kitchen, and the Doctor looked at Rose, an eyebrow arched in question.

It's rude to just refuse, Doctor, she told him. Now sit down. You're not gonna loom over him while we ask him about the pills; he'll feel like he's being interrogated.

They sat down somewhat awkwardly on a small love seat, trying to leave enough space between them that Roger Davey wouldn't suspect they were more than just coworkers.

A moment later, Roger returned. He handed them their tea, then sat down on the black arm chair facing the love seat. "What did you want to know?" he asked, holding his own cuppa somewhat nervously.

The Doctor took a sip of tea and leaned back against the arm of the love seat. "How long have you been taking the pills?"

"I've been on the pills for two weeks now," Roger told them. "I've lost fourteen kilos."

The Doctor frowned. Fourteen kilos in fourteen days. "That's the same amount every day?" he asked, wanting to make sure the number wasn't a coincidence.

The Doctor's quick realisation loosened Roger up a little, and he nodded eagerly. "One kilo exactly. You wake up, and it's disappeared overnight." He paused, and a frown creased his forehead. "Well, technically speaking, it's gone by ten past one in the morning."

"That's a little precise," Rose said. "How do you know?"

Roger shrugged. "That's when I get woken up. Might as well weigh myself at the same time."

Rose tapped her fingers on the side of her cup. "You get woken up every day at ten past one in the morning?"

He leaned forward in his chair, tea forgotten. "It is driving me mad. Ten minutes past one, every night, bang on the dot without fail, the burglar alarm goes off."

What if they took mobilising lipase literally? the Doctor wondered. "Show me the burglar alarm," he requested.

Roger led them back out the front door and pointed at the red box affixed to the brick wall. "I've had experts in, I've had it replaced, I've even phoned Watchdog. But no, ten past one in the morning, off it goes."

"But with no burglars?" Rose clarified.

Roger shook his head, his hands on his hips. "Nothing. I've given up looking."

The Doctor thought he finally knew what was happening though, and if he was right… "Tell me, Roger. Have you got a cat flap?" He waited impatiently while Roger blinked at the unexpected question, but after processing it for a moment, he nodded and led them back inside.

As soon as the door was closed, the Doctor got down on the floor and lifted the flap.

A moment later, Roger crouched down beside him. "It was here when I bought the house. I've never bothered with it, really. I'm not a cat person."

"No, I've met cat people," the Doctor said absently, his mind racing. "You're nothing like them."

"It's that what it is, though?" Roger asked. "Cats getting inside the house?"

The Doctor launched into a ramble to hide his wince. "Well, thing about cat flaps is, they don't just let things in, they let things out as well."

"Like what?" a baffled Roger asked after a brief pause.

Rose had been following along with the conversation, and once she understood the Doctor's suspicion, she felt sick to her stomach. "The fat just walks away," she said, quoting the slogan she'd seen at the top of every customer file.

The Doctor and Roger stood up, and Rose held out a hand to Roger. He shook it, looking at her and the Doctor bemusedly. "Thanks so much for your help, Mr. Davey." She bit her lip for a moment, then added, "Tell you what, maybe you could lay off the pills for a week or so."

Before Roger could reply to that, something in the Doctor's pocket beeped. "Oh!" He pulled a three-pronged gizmo out and looked at it. "Got to go, sorry," he said, then raced off. Rose shook her head and shrugged at the thoroughly baffled Roger Davey before chasing after the Doctor.

They ran down the street, turning corners as the Doctor's gizmo led them to… something—Rose didn't know what yet. At one point, the Doctor stopped and tapped the device against the heel of his hand until it gave them a new heading, and they took off running again.

The Doctor skidded to a stop when his device started flashing madly. "I don't understand," he muttered. "We should be right on top of it."

"Right on top of what?" Rose asked. Then she heard tires squealing behind her, and barely had time to grab the Doctor and yank him out of the way of the black van careening down the street.

As the van passed, the light on his device turned solid red. They gave chase, cutting through an alley trying to catch the van, but finally, the Doctor slowed and and dropped the detector back into his pocket.

"Gone," he said.

Rose sighed. She was ready to go home, and she didn't really want to walk. "I don't suppose we could find a cab in this neighbourhood," she said, only to spot one driving slowly down the street behind them, its light turned on to indicate it was looking for a fare.

The Doctor sprinted for it, catching it before it had gone down another street. He'd just given the driver an address near where they'd parked the TARDIS when Rose joined them.

"Lucky thing for us that you were here tonight," she told the cabbie as she slid into the backseat beside the Doctor.

The driver grunted. "Luck had nothing to do with it, sweetheart," he said. "I had a fare tonight, but when I got there, she was just gone. Now I ask you, what kind of person does that? Most nights, I'd be lucky to find someone all the way out here to make the drive worth my time."

"Well, we're helping each other out then," Rose said, and the driver nodded sharply.

Rose leaned against the Doctor and he draped an arm around her shoulders. So what were we tracking?

While you were getting ready earlier, I took my old timey-wimey detector and rigged it to track that secondary transmission. I wanted to know if anyone from Adipose Industries sent instructions to one of their little pendants.

Clever, Rose praised.

The Doctor straightened his tie, preening slightly. I have my moments.

And what about the van? And the fat just walks away?

He sobered. Ah. Well, I'm a bit embarrassed I didn't realise it earlier, but then, seeding a level five planet is against galactic law.

Seeding? Rose wrinkled her nose. That doesn't sound good.

It's not. It's really, really not. He sighed and ran his hand through his hair. Adipose isn't just a word for fat. There's also a species known as Adipose. Their bodies are about 90, 95% fat.

Rose put her hand over her mouth, trying to keep her chips down. You mean those pills take one kilo of fat from the customer each night, turn it into a little alien, and then…

They just walk away.

oOoOoOoOo

The next afternoon, Rose leaned back in the jump seat and watched the Doctor land the TARDIS back in the alley. They'd gone into the Vortex the night before so Rose could get the four hours of sleep she needed, then they'd skipped ahead to afternoon. "No reason to skulk about for hours when we could just get there when we want to," the Doctor had pointed out.

When the TARDIS landed, Rose jumped up and put on a baseball cap, then grabbed the bag she'd packed with sandwiches and a thermos of tea. The Doctor swung his coat on and adjusted the collar, then followed her down the ramp.

She paused when she pushed the door open, and looked back at him. "We parked in a different spot."

He nodded and stepped with her into the alleyway. "The TARDIS has a perception filter, but it never hurts to move every now and then so people don't get too curious."

Together, they walked past the blue car parked twenty feet away and down the street to the back of the building. Rose pulled the brim of her hat low over her eyes while the Doctor sonicked the door open, then followed him down the corridor to the storage room he'd claimed to stake out for their use the day before.

She took in the tiny confines and blinked. It was more of a storage cupboard than a room.

"Ah, you're not seeing it all," the Doctor told her. He cleared the cleaning supplies away from the wall and pointed the sonic at the wall.

Rose's eyes widened when the wall opened to reveal a computer terminal. "So while we wait, we try to hack the Adipose server?"

He grinned at her. "Exactly."

Rose leaned against the wall and watched him work. It was fascinating to see the way his fingers flew over the keyboard, and she loved watching the fluctuating expressions on his face.

But she couldn't stand just watching for very long, so after ten minutes, she leaned closer to the Doctor to get a better view of what he was doing. "Can you teach me a bit?" she asked. "I'm getting better at other things, but I'm still rubbish at the kind of hacking you're doing."

He straightened up and shook his head. "Not this time. The whole system's deadlocked. I've been trying to hack my way around it, but there's no way I'll be able to get in."

Rose frowned and looked around at the small room. "So… what are we doing for the next few hours, then?"

"Oh, come on." The Doctor sat down with his back pressed against the wall. "There's enough room for the two of us for a few hours."

Rose raised an eyebrow, but when he made room for her between his legs, she shrugged and sat down. "S'pose it isn't bad," she agreed as he wrapped his arms around her waist.

"So, what's with the hat?" the Doctor asked once they were settled.

"Well, if I ran a company that was doing something as shady as turning my customers into a breeding ground for an alien species, I'd be on the lookout for any suspicious behaviour," Rose explained. "Like, for instance, someone who claimed to be a temp and then disappeared after only a few hours."

"Ahhh," the Doctor said. "Very clever."

"I have my moments," Rose quipped, then giggled when the Doctor tickled her ribs for copying his line.

"The hat's making my head itch, though." She took it off and shook her hair out, letting it fall back around her shoulders.

"Oi! Hair in my mouth!" the Doctor protested.

Rose laughed again, then they settled in to wait.

oOoOoOoOo

At five till six, they pulled sandwiches out of Rose's bag and had a quick picnic dinner. By the time they'd finished and cleaned up, it was twenty past, and the Doctor deemed it safe enough to leave their hiding place.

Everyone should be gone for the night, he told Rose as he led the way to the service elevator. Besides, we're going straight to the roof, so even if there are a few people lingering, we shouldn't run into them.

They took the elevator up the top floor, then climbed the single flight of stairs that led to the roof access. "What's the plan now, Doctor?"

He nodded at the side of the building where the window cleaner's cradle was parked at a little platform with stairs leading up to it. "We'll take that down, see if we can maybe find Miss Foster's office."

"And if we can't?" Rose asked as they climbed the metal stairs. "That's a long shot, after all."

He jumped down into the cradle and Rose followed. "Then I'll come up with a new plan," he said breezily, winking at Rose when she rolled her eyes at him. "Even if we aren't lucky enough to stop right in front of her office, we should be able to tell the level that has the executive offices," he explained as he hit the button that lowered them down the side of the building. "We'll sonic the window open and climb inside."

"It's a lovely view," Rose said.

The Doctor looked away from the windows for a moment to look out at London with Rose. The river wasn't far away, with its familiar attractions scattered along it. Tower Bridge, the London Eye, Big Ben—it was a lovely view.

He barely remembered in time that he was supposed to be watching the office building. When he turned around, they were just passing a well-lit, spacious office. He stopped the cradle just as the door opened.

The Doctor grabbed Rose and yanked her down with him as he dropped out of sight. He'd only caught a glimpse of the woman, but he was almost positive this was Miss Foster's office. I think that's her, he told Rose as he rummaged in his pockets for his stethoscope.

"You can't tie me up," he heard when he put the bell to the wall. He raised his eyebrows—that sounded like Penny, the reporter from the day before. "What sort of a country do you think this is?"

"Oh, it's a beautifully fat country," Miss Foster said. "And believe me, I've travelled a long way to find obesity on this scale."

"So, come on then, Miss Foster, those pills," Penny said. "What are they?"

The Doctor slowly moved the bell up until it was pressed to the glass instead of the concrete building. Immediately, the voices were clearer.

"Well, you might just as well have a scoop, since you'll never see it printed. This is the spark of life."

The Doctor looked at Rose, who was watching patiently. Miss Foster caught a reporter snooping around, he told her. She's explaining the whole plot to her now—sounds like we were right.

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Penny demanded impatiently.

"Officially, the capsule attracts all the fat cells and flushes them away. Well, it certainly attracts them. That part's true. But it binds the fat together and galvanises it to form a body."

The Doctor could hear the hesitation and confusion in Penny's voice when she asked her next question. "What do you mean, a body?"

"I am surprised you never asked about my name. I chose it well. Foster. As in foster mother. And these are my children."

Just listening couldn't satisfy the Doctor's curiosity any longer, and Rose was getting restless, so he nudged her and indicated they should slowly get to their knees.

He took in the tableau quickly—Miss Foster was walking around her desk to Penny, who was indeed tied to a chair. He suspected the two guards with automatic weapons gave her plenty of motivation to do as she was told.

"You're kidding me," Penny said. "What the hell is that?"

The Doctor looked at the desk and immediately recognised the juvenile Adipose.

"Adipose," Miss Foster said. "It's called an Adipose. Made out of living fat."

Penny squirmed in her seat, but she couldn't get her hands free. "But… I don't understand."

"From ordinary human people," Miss Foster further explained.

The Doctor was working himself into a towering rage as he considered all the galactic laws Miss Foster was breaking. There were reasons level five planets were protected. What she was doing was extremely dangerous to humans, and they had no knowledge it was happening.

Rose elbowed the Doctor, interrupting his growing anger. "Donna's here," she hissed, jerking her head towards the door on the other side of the room.

He looked at the door and felt his jaw go slack when he recognised the ginger woman on the other side. "Donna?"

She had a broad smile on her face and her eyes were wide with excitement. As soon as she saw them, she started talking, moving her lips exaggeratedly enough that they could read them. "Doctor? Rose!"

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Rose clap her hand over her mouth to hold her laughter in, but he was too stunned to consider how ridiculous he and Donna looked.

"But what? What? What?" he stammered, unable to even get a full sentence out.

"Oh my god!" Donna said, her head bobbing with every word.

The Doctor shook his head. This was… She was… "But how?"

"It's me!" she exclaimed, pointing at her grinning face.

The Doctor felt like reality had gotten away from him. "Yes, I can see that," he told her, pointing to his eyes and then to her.

Rose sat with her back against the side of the cradle and her head in her hands, her shoulders shaking with nearly-silent laughter.

"Oh, this is brilliant."

Donna gave them a double thumbs up and looked absolutely beside herself with joy, but the Doctor couldn't get past one simple fact. Somehow, Donna Noble had found them, over a year after they'd met her, in her timeline.

"What the hell are you doing there?" he demanded, punctuating the last three words by pointing at her. Things like this just didn't happen. Or didn't just happen? Maybe that was right.

Beside him, Rose got back on her knees so she could watch the conversation. Clearly, it did, so let's figure it out.

Donna waved at her, then pointed at her eyes and said, "I was looking for you." She pointed a finger at each of them as she said it.

The Doctor pointed at himself, then Rose. "What for?"

He sat back on his heels and gaped as she proceeded to tell an entire story. "I read it on the internet. Weird. Crept along. Heard them talking. Hid. You…"

"Bloody hell," Rose muttered, realising they'd been caught at the same time Donna did.

Miss Foster looked from Donna to the Doctor and Rose, a cold smile on her face. "Are we interrupting you?

Rose looked at Donna. "Run!" she ordered, and Donna took off.

"Get her," Miss Foster ordered.

Oh, no you don't. The Doctor sonicked the door shut so the guards couldn't chase after Donna.

Miss Foster scowled at him. "And them," she added, pointing at him and Rose.

"Hang on, Rose." The Doctor pointed his screwdriver up at the controls for the cradle, taking them to the roof as fast as possible. As they soared past the dark windows, he wondered how Donna Noble had found them again, and when she would turn up next.