Well, as promised, here's the second chapter! Hope you like. xx (And thanks to everyone who reviewed, I really do appreciate it)


When Rose woke, the Doctor had vanished. She could hear the space station awash with the noises of the crew. Yesterday the drills had stopped. Almost immediately they had started to make plans about procedures and protocols that Rose had found completely uninteresting in her state. She was exhausted and the façade of cheerfulness she put on had collapsed as Scooti's body floated towards the black hole. One arm eerily stretched out as if she were waving goodbye. To anyone else, it would seem as if the crew wasn't much affected by the death. But Rose knew better than anyone. When you travelled with the Doctor you saw so much death. And yes, you would mourn it for a little while, but then you would busy yourself as much as you could to keep the weight of it from crushing your mind. The team were just distracting themselves.

As the crew and the Doctor made plans for the next day, Rose had wandered aimlessly through the space station, before finally coming to a stop outside of her designated room. She rested her forehead against the cool metal door, enjoying the smoothness of the canary paint coating it. Only a few tears escaped her then. Scooti was a wonderful person, and they really did get on. But after a few moments she collected herself together again. She couldn't allow herself to succumb to her sorrow in the situation. As she walked into the room, Rose glared at the porthole. The once beautiful black hole looked different to her now. With the knowledge that it would consume Scooti's body, she now viewed it as something terrifying. The gaping black chasm in the centre looked like the jaws of a monster, waiting to devour her. Walking over to it, she slammed the screen over the glass, refusing to look at it. The whole idea of space travel wasn't as glamorous as everyone thought it was back home. It was fraught with danger and death and destruction…nothing about it was glamorous. Rose curled up on the small bed, biting her thumb. Her mind wandered in and out of dreams. Somewhere in the back of her subconscious she could hear the door to the room open and close.

"Rose? You awake?" She could feel the Doctor's presence as he leaned over her body, trying to peer at her face. Not in the mood to talk, she kept her eyes closed. With a sigh, the Doctor sat in the chair by the desk, remaining there for the rest of the night.


Now she was awake, she realised he was gone. The whirrs and grinds of machinery could be heard clearly, and instructions were being called out from every direction. Rose quickly slid from the bed, walking briskly to the source of the action. As she got there, she saw Ida standing in front of a yellow capsule, calling out instructions to everyone. But the sight that greeted Rose next sank her heart. The Doctor had donned the same space suit that Ida had, no doubt going to explore the source of energy with her. As Rose watched him bound over to Zach, she closed her eyes. Of course he would go. Why did she think anything else? But a panic seemed to take over and squeeze her heart. What if something happened to him? When he was all the way down there, how would she get to him? All she had was him now, and she couldn't even imagine losing him. The Doctor spoke quickly to Zach before finally catching her eye. They had a brief conversation, laden with jokes and smiles, the opposite of what they both were feeling. She kissed his helmet and watched as he stepped into the capsule with Ida, waving goodbye sweetly. Her heart sank with it as it disappeared from sight.


Everything after that was a bit of a blur. Toby stood from his spot in the corner, his eyes blood red with the black markings etched into his face. Rose spoke quickly and quietly into her radio, relaying the events to the Doctor. His voice floated faintly back to her, something about he was coming back. Whatever was in Toby left him a cloud of dusky smoke, infecting the Ood. The next few minutes were a haze of gunfire and alarms and shouting. And Rose was left in the middle of it all, wishing to God that the Doctor would hurry back.

The Doctor ran to the capsule, tugging Ida along with him. He typed something into the small control panel, and the capsule started to shake, heaving them back up to the surface.

"Doctor, we can't just leave it! We've been drilling all this time, I'm not leaving!" Ida yelled to him, even though they were already halfway up the shaft.

"Ida, something is happening up there, and we need to help-"

"But-"

"No buts. If we sort everything out then we can come back down, no problem." She pursed her lips and turned away from him. Almost a split second later the planet began to shake, they both grabbed a hold of anything they could in the capsule. Ida was sure she had whiplash, and the capsule was still moving, but scraping against the walls of the tunnel as it moved. It swung and battered itself against the rough rocks around it, the machine making an alarming whirring noise. And almost as soon as it had started, it stopped. The lift sputtered and beeped, then started to rise to the surface of the planet once more. Ida and the Doctor looked at one another, their breaths coming in hard pants, clouding the glass of their helmets. "What was that?" Ida panted, looking to the Doctor for answers. He looked around, still holding onto a metal pole for balance.

"The planet moved. All of it, like a quake."

"Doctor? Ida? You there? Please say something-"

"We're here, Rose." The Doctor spoke softly into his radio, trying to quell the panic in her voice, evident even through the static.

"You should've said something earlier-""I know, sorry. What's going on up there, what happened?" The Doctor interrupted her. Ida paused, waiting with baited breath for an answer. The last thing she wanted was for anyone to be hurt.

"Whatever was in Toby went into the Ood. But Jefferson took them out with his gun." Rose murmured with a distinct look of pity on her face the Doctor could imagine through her voice.

"No one's hurt, but Zach's stuck in the control room and us in here. The Ood are trying to break in. Where are you? Are you o.k?"

"Yeah, we're fine. Me and Ida are on our way back up, we've only got a few metres to go. I'll see you in a minute." Rose breathed a smile, and turned to wait for the yellow box to appear.


The Doctor held Rose in his arms as the Ood were sucked into space, the station rattled with the force of it. After he had returned, they had quickly discussed the plan that was strategy nine. As against it as he was, the Doctor had no choice but to go through with it. There was literally no other solution. They had lost Jefferson along the way, a fine man with too much pride. Rose burrowed her head against his neck, waiting for the shaking to subside. It was a tragedy to go ahead with strategy nine, but Rose kept telling herself to be thankful that both her and the Doctor were together, and he wasn't stuck down there with the 'beast'. As they and the crew sat in silence, Rose found her mind wandering. What would happen after this? No doubt the Doctor and her would have to take the lift the crew offered to them, but then what? They'd have to get a house…a mortgage…a normal life.

"Rose? It's stopped." Jerking out of her daydream, Rose looked around. The crew were slowly rising to their feet, each with a distinct look of shame or regret. The Doctor was looking at her, waiting for her to move.

"Yeah, sorry." She stood with him, waiting a second before wrapping her arms around his neck. He wrapped his own around her waist, squeezing her tightly, holding her to him. As they released each other, Danny spoke quietly.

"Is everyone alright?" A few murmurs echoed around the room, each confirming their well being.

"Is that it? Is everything….are we safe?" Toby said as he looked around, almost as if he was scared that the beast would jump up from behind a desk or something.

"I…I should think so, yes." The Doctor swallowed. Zach ran to the control panel as a loud beep started to sound. Everyone stood still in a moment of panic, wondering what could possibly be wrong now.

"It's alright. The shuttle's ready to launch." Zach spoke to them all, and they all sighed a collective breath of relief.

"What do you say then, Doctor? Rose? You ready for that lift?" Rose looked to the Doctor and grasped his hand. He swallowed loudly.

"I….is there no way to get down there?" Zach sighed and shook his head.

"I'm sorry, Doctor. We've been over this. There isn't any way. And frankly, even if there was a way I wouldn't let you do it. It'd just be you risking yours and everyone else's lives." There was a silence as the information sunk in. The Doctor turned to Rose.

"Are you alright with this? Living a normal…" He trailed off, not even wishing to finish his sentence.

"As long as you're with me…I think I could cope." She laughed feebly and he granted her a smile.

"Well…maybe I've been travelling too long…Zach…if you don't mind, I think we should hurry up and leave."


So this was just a chapter to explain what happened before the Doctor and Rose left for their normal lives. Now this is done, we can get started on the interesting bit lol. I'll have the next chapter up tomorrow if you give me enough reviews I think xx (oh, and sorry if some things in here doesn't fit in with the episodes timeline...but then it is AU after all)