A/N: OKAY. SO. I GOT A REQUEST FROM AN AGENT FOR A PARTIAL MANUSCRIPT. THIS IS A HAPPY THING. I AM CELEBRATING BY WRITING. HAVE A CHAPTER.

Also, related to the story: Yes. Yes, there is something off. Thanks for trusting me. Just wait. ;)

Disclaimer: I don'town the rights to Supernatural or Doctor Who or any of the related rights.

...

Rose was faintly aware of where she was, but it was very hard to think, or even really to move.

She couldn't see very well. There was some kind of something all around her. It felt like it was partially organic, but it also felt technological. She'd probably been captured by some sort of techno-organic aliens or something. She'd seen weirder things.

She tried to force herself awake, to take in her surroundings, but the organic material seemed to realize that she was waking up, and then she smelled something funny.

Her head spun, and she felt her eyelids getting heavier.

But she felt something else, too, something like a psychic touch. And she'd traveled enough to know what those felt like. Something going through her memories. Something that felt like it was still connected to her.

She struggled to stand on her own feet, but still she felt more tired.

And then, just a few feet away from her, she heard a distinct moaning sound. It was faint, but it was definitely there.

She tried to call out, but her "hello" sounded more like "ungh." Still, it was at least audible.

There was an answering, questioning, "ungh" after a few second.

Someone else was there with her.

...

"You doing okay?"

The Doctor looked over at the younger Winchester brother. His eyes were wide and full of sympathy. A puppy dog look. The Doctor just frowned and shook his head. "They've got Rose somewhere," he said.

"Oh," Sam said. He looked after Dean, who had disappeared to get some supplies from the trunk of the Impala. "That's why you're so distracted."

"Distracted? Me?" The Doctor felt like he should have been offended, but he knew Sam was right. His head wasn't in the present, and he was itching to go after Rose. Usually by now he would have something to do, but as his only material witness was back at the diner and the rest of the population in the town refused to admit to anything more than the fact they had a problem, he felt like he was spinning his wheels.

Sam had related to the Doctor and Dean what he found out on the beaches. He'd met several of the adults on their way back from whatever meeting they'd had, and all of them seemed very open about the fact that there were disappearances. In fact, the only thing that seemed off about them was their determination to keep everything quiet and their apparent aversion to their own children.

The Doctor couldn't quite place why, but he felt like he'd dealt with this sort of thing before. But he was getting old, and it was hard to keep track of everything he'd seen and done in so many hundreds (or was it thousands? It was hard to keep track. He'd reset the clock at nine hundred when he met Rose, and he'd been counting his years since then) of years.

" 'S okay," Sam said. "Dean's head's not in it either."

The Doctor nodded. He'd noticed that too. Dean had always seemed aloof, but the kid he remembered also knew how to laugh and tease. And the Dean he remembered didn't ignore the big eyes Allie had been giving him.

(Lucky duck. Allie didn't seem to like the Doctor very much, no matter how he tried to win her over.)

"What happened?" the Doctor asked. He knew he probably shouldn't have asked that, but all he could see when he looked at the boys was the brothers who took on danger around them with a joke and a determination to save each other that was probably not healthy. Now, the determination was there, but where was the easy joking? How was he supposed to ignore that?

Sam looked out for his big brother, and when he didn't see Dean, he sighed. "Had a run-in with a reaper."

"Near-death experience?" the Doctor asked, remembering stories of the Grim Reaper and wondering if the boys really believed in that sort of thing.

Sam raised his eyebrows, then sighed. "Right. Dean said you were like that."

The Doctor wasn't sure what Sam meant. So he decided to change the subject. "It's a good thing we've got you on our side, then, huh, Sammy?" he asked with a smile.

"Don't call me that," Sam said, but it sounded hollow.

Dean reappeared with what looked like an old Walkman. It seemed to be some kind of electromagnetic gadget, and the Doctor remembered fondly a little boy who was very good at building things. He hadn't lost his touch, then.

"Okay," Dean said. "I've got all the stuff that'll find out if it's our kind of monster." He looked at the Doctor. "Still haven't figured out how to tell if they're your kind, though."

The Doctor laughed. "I don't have a catalogued system, if that's what you're asking."

"You should look into it," Dean said. He seemed a lot more relaxed now that they were away from the town's weird inhabitants.

"So you said the kids were talking about the adults reappearing differently?" Sam asked. He was suddenly a little taller, standing a little straighter, now that Dean was around. The Doctor was sure it wasn't a conscious thing, but he saw now what ten plus years of partnership had done to the, to the sass-mouthing Dean and the little brother who wanted to be a Time Lord lawyer.

"Yeah, but then when the adults got back they seemed scared of the kids," Dean said.

"The kids were more afraid of their parents, though," the Doctor amended. He wasn't a fan of Dean's creepy kids theory; it felt a little too horror-story-cliche.

Dean rolled his eyes. Then, suddenly, he turned to the Doctor. "What do you think? I mean, we can look for our kind of monsters our way, but you've got the TARDIS. Think she could scan for, I dunno, alien tech?"

The Doctor thought of Rose and the time they met Captain Jack Harkness. He thought of the Spock nickname and tried not to feel both happy at the memory and desperate at the thought of losing her. "The TARDIS doesn't work like that."

"You sure there's nothing in there we can use?"

"Let's try what you've got first," the Doctor said. Something was off about this whole thing, the situation, the Winchesters, and the Doctor was trying to put his finger on it. "Some good old fashioned legwork never hurt anyone, did it?"

Dean nodded, but he didn't look happy about it.

The Doctor looked at Dean and Sam, gauged the distance between them, and thought he could almost hear the cogs in his mind clicking together.

Sam and Dean exchanged a few gadgets wordlessly, like they'd done this a hundred times and didn't need words for something so easy. They were both ready in a few moments, and the Doctor was already headed back for Will's place when they had finished.

"Where you headed?" Dean called after him.

"I'm investigating on my own. You two can play monster hunters while I'm gone, but I'm going to get some answers."

Dean looked offended, but Sam didn't look surprised.

"You sure it's a good idea to split up?" Dean called after him.

The Doctor frowned. No, it wasn't a good idea. But he had a hunch, and he didn't exactly want the Winchesters in on it.