A/N: This chapter isn't so long and drawn out, and it even manages to cover off two separate scenes ... which is cool, and totally unlike me.

Anyhoo ... hope you enjoy

~~oooOOOooo~~

Garbled and indecipherable English lines of data continued to scroll across the laboratory's monitors, despite the Doctor's insistence that the ship revert back to Gallifreyan. Many of the tests he had performed upon what little sample the TARDIS would accept were too highly advanced for Human civilisations, and had no direct translation into any of Earth's languages. The only civilisation that would – that could – conduct test of this nature and correctly decipher the data were the Time Lords…

…So bad TARDIS for not playing fair and reporting the results in the language of the Time Lords.

The Doctor finally swept his glasses off his face and cupped hi hand underneath his chin. He stared at the monitor and then looked to the ceiling and slouched back heavily into his rolling desk chair to focus his full attention on the ceiling. He kicked his feet on the floor to roll back a little and then crossed one ankle over his knee and folded his arms across his chest.

"Is there any particular reason why you're refusing to translate this data into something – oh I dunno – more appropriate than Earth-English?"

There was a change in the hum of the ships engines that may have been a petulant humph, but the language on the monitor did not change.

The Doctor kicked the floor to spin him around in place a couple of times. "Still refusing, dear? For what reason would you speak in the language of Humans and not the Time Lords." He kicked again to turn a pair of spins in his chair. "You've never spoken English in the past – oh – 900 years that I'm aware of." He stopped spinning and sat up. "Oh, yes. Well there was that time when you lost me and had to give flight instructions to Tegan and Adric…"

He looked up to the ceiling and slouched backward again. "Done under extreme duress, so I understand…"

He huffed out and threaded his fingers together to rest his hands on his chest. He blew out a long breath though his lips. HE wasn't quite defeated, but he was most certainly frustrated by the TARDIS' refusal to cooperate. HE maintained his slouched seat and focused on an orange divot in the coral ceiling above him. "Are you unwell? Hmmmm? Were some of your translation and communication circuits damaged when you almost died?"

His eyes dropped to the monitor, but he didn't move from his slouch. "Whatever's wrong, I'm sure I can repair the damage." He tipped his head to one side. "I could always contact my father and have him take a look at you as well. Between the three of us and your parallel sister, I'm sure we can…" His eyes lit up when the garbled lines of English warped, skipped, and then switched to scrolling circular Gallifreyan.

Immediately the Doctor leapt out of his chair and eagerly approached the monitor. He rubbed his hand together as he analysed the spinning circles for a brief second before growling, and lifting his eyes to the monitor.

"Well. I see that your knowledge of the more colourful Gallifreyan curses are intact." He sniffed. "Now how about you use your apparently infinite knowledge of our people's language to give me the answers I'm looking for."

The images shifted to new lines of circular Gallifreyan, and the words within only served to annoy the Doctor further. "There's really no need to speak to me in that manner, old girl," he said with a snort through his nose. "If you're not willing to give me the answers, then just say so. This run around and pretending not to remember how to analyse data in the language specific to the testing really is quite demeaning to us both."

He stepped back from the monitor and paced the small laboratory. "I will say that I'm a little disappointed in you, TARDIS. All I'm doing is trying to make sure that our Rose Tyler is safe and healthy and you're being very much uncooperative…" He paused and shifted his eyes to the monitor as it lit up with a new stream of text. He rolled his eyes guiltily. "Well. Okay. Maybe I am being a little nosey. But I just want to make sure she's okay." He opened his arms to the TARDIS in pleading. "Something's not right about her. She's got secrets, and I need to know that those secrets aren't ones that are dangerous." He swallowed thickly and lowered his voice. "Now, I don't know what kind of man I was to you and to Rose in the parallel you're from. I don't know if he loved her as much as I do, but…"

The data changed again, and this time the text flashed red and pulsed angrily. The Doctor was immediately taken aback by her vehemence, and held up his hands in his own defence. "Okay. Okay. I'm sorry. I get it: No matter what parallel I'm in, I love her."

He pursed his lips and looked downward as the angry flashing text pulsed back to a more calm green. He kept his head low, but he raised his eyes to the monitor. "Can I ask you a question that you might be able to answer?"

He lifted his chin to level out his gaze. "During Rose's jumps, did she encounter any version of me that treated her poorly?" His voice turned to pleading. "Please? I have to know what I did that made her so angry at me. I need to know how to make it right."

This time, rather than anger, the TARDIS replied with apology and not anger. The symbols on the monitor were more of a shake of her head than an outright refusal to answer him. The Doctor knew from that response, that whatever it was that had upset his pink and yellow girl, it wasn't solely at his hand – despite the words that Rose had used.

"If you won't come forth and give me the answers I need, can you at least assure me that whatever it is, that Rose is safe?"

The answer on the monitor was swift, and it was vehement. If the TARDIS has anything at all to do with it, then this Rose Tyler was the safest person in the entire Multiverse.

The Doctor smiled thankfully. "Between the pair of us, we'll make sure you're right about that."

As the screen darkened and the TARDIS' hum settled comfortably in the back of his mind, the Doctor stretched out his back. He yawned loudly against the back of his hand, and then rubbed at the back of his neck. He hadn't considered just how long he'd been unsuccessfully analysing test results, but judging by the grumble in his belly and the dryness of his yes, it had to be a few hours.

Nine hours and twenty six minutes, actually, his mind supplied.

"I suppose that means I've retained some of my time sense," he remarked to himself as he padded quietly through the door and along the corridor that would take him through the console room and back into Rose's basement. Oh, there was much more to the sull time sense of a Time Lord than merely picking off hours and minutes, but this was a good start. A quick trip via TARDIS to land in an alternate time and place and he'd know for sure if he'd retained the one thing that truly made him a Lord over Time.

First thing first, however. He was going to find Rose and make breakfast for the two of them. Perhaps he can coax her into opening up to him a little more.

HE smirked as he pulled back on the door to exit, but that smile quickly fell when he saw a tray with food and a thermos of tea blocking his way out. With a crease in his brow, he dropped into a crouch to pick up a tented card that covered the cutlery.

Good morning Doctor.

I'm glad to see that you chose to take up residence in your TARDIS rather than in the house. She's missed you terribly, and I'm sure she's eager to take you up into the Vortex and back out across space.

Of course, you shouldn't go off without a belly full of food and tea, so I made you up a plate and a thermos of Mum's special brew to get you started.

Sorry I'm not there to wish you my best on your trip, but Earth-Bound me has to head into work. I have to pay for this house somehow, right?

Don't forget that I love you, and that your TARDIS does too. Treat her right. She's a wonderful woman who deserves nothing but the best from you.

Goodbye, My Doctor.

Forever yours,

Rose.

The Doctor read her note twice before letting it fall to the floor. Was she still going to push him back into the TARDIS and out into the universe – alone – without joining him? Just what part of their conversation last evening would make her think that he was going to leave her behind?

He huffed.

The Curse of the Time Lords speech. Right.

He was of the mind to use his TARDIS to contact the Time Lord idiot and give him a damn decent talking to about this. Sure, he was very much that man when the speech was originally made, and the dumping of ex companions had happened … But if he was going to have to be the one to suffer the consequences of that speech, then by Rassilon, his father should have to hear about it, too, because there was no doubt in his mind that speeches like that would continue to happen, and hearts would continue to break at his hand.

…Even if that heart, or hearts, belonged to him.

He shook his head and let out a sigh. If he called the Time Lord now, then the Doctor would know that the both of them were back in this parallel – which meant that he'd start sniffing about and accidentally dropping in from time to time to check up on them both.

Control freak.

He tapped his foot on the edge of the TARDIS floor and contemplated what to do while he waited for Rose to return from work. His TARDIS wasn't being as cooperative as he would have liked, so continuing to try and analyse the sample he got from Rose yesterday was out of the question.

He passed his look into the console room and gruffed. Damn meddling thing that she was. This machine knew exactly what secrets Rose was keeping, and she wasn't giving any of it up at all. Never mind the 900-odd years of companionship he and the TARDIS had together, the ship was siding with Rose. Rose Tyler, who – while absolutely brilliant – didn't have the history with the Time Ship that he did.

He leaned against the doorframe and pursed out his lips in contemplation. Rose had mentioned that Jack Harkness had aided her during the time she had spent here in this Parallel while the TARDIS recovered. The pair of them were as tight as anyone. There was no doubt in his mind that if Rose had opened up to anyone, it'd be Jack.

Now. He dropped Jack off back in London, but he mentioned a quick hope back to Cardiff after a drink or few with Martha and Mickey…

The Doctor spun on his heel and jogged toward the console at the centre of the command deck. He slapped his hands together with a loud clap and held them together as he looked over the console. "So," he cooed out through a smile. "Fancy taking a short hope to Cardiff, dear?"

He leaned forward and flicked a lever with one hand as he twisted a dial with the other. He smiled up at the Time Rotor and gave a wink. "Bet you could do with a little rift energy, am I right?"

The rotor column pulsed and the Doctor dramatically leaned to one side to swipe up a lever in an exaggerated and showy manner. "Well, Allonsy, old girl. Let's go see Jack!"

~~oooOOOooo~~

Jack Harkness had his eyes locked hard on the display in front of him, looking over the brunette hair of Gwen, when the TARDIS materialised in the Torchwood main hub. He didn't react too much against the gusting winds and the howling whine of materialisation except to adjust the sound of the audio feed coming in from the field. He didn't even shift his eyes from the monitor when the front door creaked open, and the Doctor stepped outside.

"About time you got here," he muttered dryly as he pointed toward a secondary communication station at the side of the room. "You can set up over there. Computer's already warm, if it prompts you to use it, thepassword is fabulous darling no spaces, no capitals."

The Doctor's eyes shot wide with surprise, but he gave Jack a nod and quickly dropped into a rickety desk chair that has most definitely seen better days. It rolled back slightly as his settled in the seat, but he gripped at the desk edge with his fingers to pull himself in comfortably. He was somewhat relieved not to have to type In anything about being fabulous in the password field, as the computer was already logged in.

"Okay," he called out. "What am I looking for?"

Jack didn't take his eyes from the monitor. Instead he leaned over Gwen's shoulder to increase the zoom on a camera on one of the headsets in the field. "Go into our database. I need all the information we've got in there about the Homm Heibygh."

The Doctor hummed. "Well. I don't need any rudimentary Earth databases to tell you about that group of degenerates," he stated with distaste.

"Try to keep the insult toward our planet and species out of it, Doc. I don't have time to deal with that garbage right now. I've got agents in the field going after that group of degenerates, and I'd kind've like to know how to keep my people alive." He flicked a look toward him. "As I'm sure you are."

He nodded firmly. "Right. Of course. The Homm Heibygh are a species from the planet Pepylz in the Taucull Constellation…."

"Not interested in their history right now, Doc," he snapped quickly. "We can review their dosier when the job is done. Please just give me specifics that will keep Rose and Mickey alive."

The Doctor wuickly pressed his hands into the desktop and shoved himself up into a stand. "I'm sorry? Did you just say Rose is out there with these … these cretins?"

"She's fine, Doc," he assured him gruffly. "Rose is very well experienced out in the field."

"Yeah," Gwen drawled with a smile. "One of the best I've seen… Absolutely fearless, she is."

"Oh really," the Doctor challenged facetiously. "Come up against the Homm Heibygh a few times, has she?"

Jack looked down his shoulder at the Doctor and let out a breath. "Not quite, but she's handled more than enough missions with my team that we're confident she'll get the job done and get out in one piece."

"Oh," the Doctor coughed. "You say that like she's been on your payroll for longer than a month."

Gwen looked at the Doctor with confusion and opened her mouth to speak, but was quickly shut down when Jack put his hand on her shoulder and shook his head. He looked back toward the half-panicked half-Time Lord with an unreadable expression. "She's got experience from her own Torchwood days, Doctor. Not to mention the year that I had the privilege of travelling with the two of you. She's more than up to the task."

Jack looked back to the and ground his teeth a little with concern for his team on the other end of the video connection. "Tell me what we need to know, please."

"Give me their coordinates, and I'll get in there and help." He thumbed over his shoulder toward the Blue Box against the wall. "I've got the TARDIS. No sweat. In and out in no time."

Jack leaned forward to the mic and issued a stern order to Mickey and Rose. He straightened back up and shook his head at the Doctor. "Right now, they have it in hand. Tell me what will piss these guys off, and I'll make sure Micks and Rose won't do it."

The Doctor stepped up beside Jack and folded his arms across his chest. His cheek dimpled as he watched the movement on the twin monitors. "Not much will upset them too greatly, really," he huffed. "Mostly bark and no bite, but if the pair of them are still wearing residual artron from the TARDIS travel during the crucible, then there could be trouble." He drew in a deep breath. "Homm Heibygh are a time sensitive creature. Telepathic species, actually. They draw their power from the telepathic signatures of other time sensitive species. Time Lords - for rather obvious reasons – are among their favourite snacks."

Jack shuddered slightly, shared a look with Gwen, and then looked back toward the Doctor. "And you're asking me to send you in to pick them up? Isn't that inviting more trouble than it's worth?"

The Doctor shook his head. "Not a concern, really. I no longer carry the Lindos hormone that's required for regeneration – which is what the Homm Heibygh hunger for. They will get quite aggressive in the presence of Artron thinking that it might trigger the release of Lindos, but the lower than typical residual presence that Rose or Mickey might have could deter them."

Gwen paled, and Jack's breath hitched hard. The Doctor noticed their barely concealed panic and narrowed his eyes. "Unless there's a reason that their saturation would be higher than I'd expect?"

"I don't know what you're leading to with that question," Jack croaked in an attempt to mask his worry. "But considering that Rose was present for your aborted attempt at regeneration less than 15 hours ago, and that you're still probably very much saturated with it and have quite likely gotten pretty close with Rose…"

"A non-issue," the Doctor threw in quickly. "Rose and I are not like that." He blew out a breath. "And quite likely never will if her resolve is as bullheaded as she is."

"Her resolve?"

The Doctor swallowed thickly and glared toward the screen where Mickey's camera showed Rose's determined face in its peripheral field. "Well it's not mine."

"Well," Jack said with a smirk that held very little surprise, but quite a large dose of amusement. "Haven't the tables turned? Figured the moment you two got alone, you'd give her a smile and her panties would fall." He tapped Gwen on the shoulder. "Call in a retreat. Get her out of there, now. Ianto's on standby with a hopper, send him in to get her." He stepped away from the monitor and walked toward a cabinet to retrieve a hopper from one of the shelves. "I'll be right behind him.".

"I'll get her," the Doctor growled. "Me and TARDIS, in and out. Easier than peasy." He walked toward the box and turned back to point toward Jack as he walked. "Send the coordinates to my TARDIS computer – she'll give you access – and I'll go in and get them."

Gwen let out a sudden cry and her hands flew up to cover her mouth. "Jack! Jack, it's attacking her!"

Both the Doctor and Jack launched from their respective sides of the room to assemble with panic behind Gwen. Their expressions differed only in how well they portrayed their horror to see through Mickey's video feed, a thick and hairy ape-like beast lunging and swiping at Rose.

Rather than screeching in horror, as Mickey was, Rose held her forearms up to protect her face and glared toward Mickey's camera. The thick canvas material of her fatigue shirt spared her from the full brunt of the beast's attack, but the thick crimson-orange streaks of blood being cast off with each strike of the beasts claws showed that she wasn't completely immune to the attack.

She grit her teeth, hissed with pain, but held her composure enough to hold the animal's claws away from any more vulnerable areas.

"How do I kill it?" she demanded into her mic. "For God's sake, Jack, tell me how to kill this thing before it kills me first!"